Common Genetic Variants Linked To Drug-Resistant Epilepsy: Study

New Delhi: Certain common genetic changes may explain why some people with focal epilepsy become less responsive to seizure medications, finds a new global study.

Focal epilepsy is a condition where seizures start in one part of the brain. It is the most common type of epilepsy.

Antiseizure medication is usually prescribed for people with the condition. However, for one in three people with epilepsy (around 20 million individuals worldwide), current antiseizure medications are ineffective. This means that people will continue to have seizures despite taking medication -- a condition called "drug resistance."

It is associated with additional significant health risks in epilepsy, including a higher risk of sudden unexpected death in epilepsy, alongside substantially higher healthcare costs.

Researchers at the University College London in the UK and the University of Texas-Health Houston in the US found the reason in some specific common genetic variants in two genes: CNIH3 -- which helps control how certain brain receptors function; and WDR26 -- which is involved in various cell processes.

The study, published in the journal EBioMedicine showed that people with genetic variants in CNIH3 and WDR26 had a higher risk of having drug resistance in focal epilepsy. The variants also determined a person's response to antiseizure medications.

"The findings of our study offer new insights about why some people have seizures that are resistant to existing antiseizure medications,” said Professor Sanjay Sisodiya from UCL’s Queen Square Institute of Neurology.