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Promise Behind Stem Cell Approaches to Treat Epilepsy: Jonathan Parker, MD, PhD
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Key Takeaways
- Epilepsy involves various seizure types, with neuronal hyperactivation as a common pathophysiological link.
- Stem cell therapy is a promising approach, focusing on regenerating interneurons to restore excitatory-inhibitory balance.
The assistant professor of neurosurgery and neuroscience at Mayo Clinic Arizona provided context on the potential of regenerative therapies like stem cells to restore neural function in patients with epilepsy. [WATCH TIME: 3 minutes]
WATCH TIME: 3 minutes
"Can we repair, regenerate, or put in new interneurons to restore that abnormal function, restore that excitatory-inhibitory balance, to hopefully stop seizures or dramatically reduce them? I think that’s the future we’re striving toward in epilepsy treatment."
For epilepsy, there are several described seizure types, including generalized, focal, and epileptic spasms. Generalized seizures are classified into several types, including tonic-clonic, absence, myoclonic, and atonic seizures. Additionally, epilepsy can be categorized into idiopathic, acquired (resulting from structural brain changes, infections, or metabolic disorders), and immunological types. Despite this variety in classification, a common underlying pathophysiology often connects seizures: neuronal hyperactivation.
There are several different approaches to treating seizures currently in the pipeline, including stem cell methods, which remain a rapidly growing field. Stem cells exist at various levels of differentiation such as pluripotent, multipotent, and oligopotent cells with varying potential to develop into target tissue. Research in other fields of Parkinson disease, Alzheimer disease, and stroke have further uncovered potential benefits of stem cells.
At the 2024 American Epilepsy Society (AES) Annual Meeting, held December 6-10 in Los Angeles, California, NeurologyLive® sat down with stem cell expert Jonathan Parker, MD, PhD, an epilepsy and functional neurosurgeon at Mayo Clinic Arizona. In the conversation, Parker outlined the thoughts behind stem cell approaches and why the clinical community believes in them. He spoke on how these approaches focus on addressing the imbalance of excitatory and inhibitory neurons, particularly the loss of GABA-producing interneurons in mesial temporal lobe epilepsy. Above all, he discussed how the approach aims to restore neural balance and provide seizure relief without the cognitive side effects associated with conventional surgeries.
