The past 12 months have seen significant gains made in epilepsy research, with many studies offering newfound hope for people living with seizure disorders.
Genomic testing
At the start of the year, researchers with the Canadian Epilepsy Network (CENet) announced they would begin sequencing genomes from 2,000 patients with epilepsy. CENet researchers are collaborating with U.S. scientists who are sequencing 4,000 patients’ genomes as part of the Epi4K project, and Europe’s EpiPGX initiative, which is sequencing 2,000 patients’ genomes.
Encoded in the DNA of every organism, genomes contain the entire heredity of a person’s genetic history. By using a process called next-generation sequencing, researchers are examining genetic changes that predispose people to epilepsy and even predict a person’s response to anti-seizure medication.
Dr. Berge Minassian, one of CENet’s leaders, told Voices of Epilepsy in February that the study will also examine how genomic technologies will save the health-care system money and improve patient care.
“At the end of the whole project, we are hoping to come up with a test . . . where anybody with epilepsy will have their genome sequenced and we will be able to predict what type of epilepsy they have; whether they have easy-to-treat epilepsy or hard-to-treat epilepsy,” Minassian said.
Minassian underscored the importance of knowing a disease’s cause. Once the cause is understood, he said, researchers can start to learn about the mechanisms of the disease and why it occurs.
“(Knowing the cause of epilepsies) opens lots of entryways to treatment, because now you understand why one person’s brain is making seizures and another person’s brain is not,” he said.
Study examines effect of exercise on children with seizures
Established by the Ontario Brain Institute (OBI), the EpLink program is unique in Canada. It involves more than 25 researchers working at nine different university and hospital sites across Ontario.
One of EpLink’s studies undertaken in 2014 is examining the impact exercise can have on reducing seizures in children who have epilepsy. The study, led by McMaster University researcher Dr. Gabriel Ronen, is ongoing. About 70 children and youths aged eight to 15 are participating in a walking program hosted at McMaster Children’s Hospital and Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario.
Participants walk with pedometers to measure the distance walked on an ongoing basis for six months, with seizures charted. For the next six months the children are monitored to see if there are sustained benefits.
Ronen and his team are trying to determine if exercise in children can change genetic functioning in the brain through a phenomenon called epigenetics. Through epigenetics, gene expressions can be manipulated, changing their function.
“It seems that exercise may up-regulate certain gene expressions that improve certain brain factors,” Ronen said in May. “We believe that exercise may have an epigenetic effect that certain positive brain substances increase and some of the deleterious effects on the brain decrease.”
EpUp study focuses on alleviating depression
Another EpLink study commencing in 2014 seeks to alleviate depression in people living with seizure disorders.
The EpUp study aims to examine how psychoeducation programs that provide people with a better understanding of epilepsy, emotions and coping skills can improve emotional health in adults affected by the condition.
An estimated 30 to 40 per cent of people living with epilepsy experience depression that often goes unrecognized and untreated, EpUp lead investigator Kathryn Hum said in October. It’s a widespread issue, but there are few existing programs to intervene, she added.
The study is divided into two parts. The first involves sending participants online questionnaires. The second component sees participants attend an eight-week psychoeducation program which is conducted by telephone.
The two psychoeducation programs consist of weekly sessions that will run January to February and March to April of next year.
It was decided to host the program via telephone to increase access, since many people affected by a seizure disorder do not drive and many will be living outside of Greater Toronto.
Each session of the program is one hour long, one day per week. Participants can expect to learn skills and strategies designed to improve their symptoms of depression.
“What we would specifically like to see is an improvement in their depressive symptoms following their participation in the psychoeducation program,” Hum said.
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Writer: Deron Hamel
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