Epilepsy genes could cancel each other

Inheriting two genes for epilepsy could actually make you less likely to have a seizure, according to new research.

US researchers from Baylor College of Medicine found that genetic mutations that can individually cause epilepsy but together might be ‘seizure-protective’.

Their findings were published in the journal Nature Neuroscience.

Lead researcher Jeffrey Noebels said the findings could help point towards new ways of treating certain types of epilepsy.

He suggested that one defect could be acting as a ‘circuit breaker’, halting the chain reaction of misplaced electrical signals which can cause a seizure.

“In the genetics of the brain, two wrongs can make a right,” he said. “If you have a potassium channel defect, then a drug blocking certain calcium channels might also benefit you.”

More than 40,000 Irish people suffer from some form of epilepsy.

Visit irishhealth.com's epilepsy clinic at...

 http://www.irishhealth.com/clin/epilepsy/index.html

[Posted: Mon 05/11/2007]