Study on the epileptogenesis in child-onset intractable epilepsy

为了阐明儿童难治性癫痫的发病机制，我们对儿童难治性癫痫患者的脑组织进行了免疫组织化学分析，同时检测了脑脊液中氨基酸和神经递质代谢产物。我们成功地揭示了West综合征患者大脑皮质电压依赖性钠通道的异常表达和/或自噬的促进作用，以及婴儿惊厥患者的氨基酸和单胺代谢紊乱。此外，我们还建立了日本常见的亚急性自身免疫性脑炎患者的抗神经元抗体筛选方法，并探讨了此类脑炎难治性癫痫的发生机制。我们相信，这些数据将为开发难治性癫痫患者的新治疗方法提供线索。

In order to clarify the epileptogenesis in child-onset intractable epilepsy, we performed the immunohistochemical analysis in autopsy brains, and the examination of amino acids and neurotransmitter metabolites in the cerebrospinal fluid from patients, simultaneously. We succeeded in disclosing the abnormal expression of voltage-dependent sodium channels and/or the facilitation of autophagy in the cerebral cortex in cases of West syndrome, and the disturbed metabolism of amino acid and monoamines in patients with infantile convulsion.In addition, we established the screening method of anti-neuronal antibodies in patients with subacute autoimmune encephalitis, which became to occur frequently in Japan, and explored the mechanisms of generation of refractory epilepsy in such encephalitis.We believe that these data will give us a clue for developing new treatments in patients with refractory epilepsy.