Alessia Salamone, Gaetano Terrone, Rossella Di Sapia, Silvia Balosso, Teresa Ravizza, Luca Beltrame, Ilaria Craparotta, Laura Mannarino, Sara Raimondi Cominesi, Massimo Rizzi, Alberto Pauletti, Sergio Marchini, Luca Porcu, Till S Zimmer, Eleonora Aronica, Matthew During, Brett Abrahams, Shinichi Kondo, Toshiya Nishi, Annamaria Vezzani
Therapies for epilepsy mainly provide symptomatic control of seizures since most of the available drugs do not target disease mechanisms. Moreover, about one-third of patients fail to achieve seizure control. To address the clinical need for disease-modifying therapies, research should focus on targets which permit interventions finely balanced between optimal efficacy and safety. One potential candidate is the brain-specific enzyme cholesterol 24-hydroxylase. This enzyme converts cholesterol to 24S-hydroxycholesterol, a metabolite which among its biological roles modulates neuronal functions relevant for hyperexcitability underlying seizures...
August 3, 2022: Neurobiology of Disease