Faculty Collaboration Database

Expression analysis of GRIN2B, BDNF, and IL-1β genes in the whole blood of epileptic patients. Neurol Sci 2018 Nov;39(11):1945-1953

Date

08/25/2018

Pubmed ID

30140987

DOI

10.1007/s10072-018-3533-9

Scopus ID

2-s2.0-85052611019 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)   8 Citations

Abstract

Epilepsy is a brain disorder with a global prevalence of 1%. It has been attributed to genetics and environmental factors. Despite efforts to identify the molecular pathology of epilepsy, the underlying mechanism is not understood yet. This study was carried out to compare GRIN2B, BDNF, and IL-1β gene expressions in 50 patients suffering from generalized epilepsy with tonic-colonic seizures and 50 age- and sex-matched healthy subjects using TaqMan Real-time PCR. Our results demonstrated significant upregulation of these genes in people with epilepsy compared with healthy subjects. We also found a positive correlation between GRIN2B and BDNF expression (r²=0.4619, p < 0.0001), BDNF and IL-1β expression (r² = 0.515, p < 0.0001), and GRIN2B and IL-1β gene expressions (r² = 0.666, p < 0.0001) which implies the possibility to estimate the expression level of these genes by assessment of expression of one of them. Considering the results of the previous animal studies which showed upregulation of these genes in brain tissues of epileptic animals, the expression levels of GRIN2B, BDNF, and IL-1β in blood samples might be related to their expression in brain samples. Future studies are needed to assess the role of these genes in the pathogenesis of epilepsy and evaluate whether altered expression of these genes along with imaging methods can facilitate subtyping the epilepsy.

Author List

Zhand A, Sayad A, Ghafouri-Fard S, Arsang-Jang S, Mazdeh M, Taheri M

Author

Shahram Arsang-Jang Postdoctoral Fellow in the Medicine department at Medical College of Wisconsin

MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold

Adult
Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor
Case-Control Studies
Epilepsy
Female
Gene Expression
Humans
Interleukin-1beta
Male
Middle Aged
RNA, Messenger
Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate
Sex Factors
Statistics as Topic
Young Adult