https://vitalrecord.tamhsc.edu/epigenetic-drug-therapy-offers-possible-epilepsy-prevention/

https://jpet.aspetjournals.org/content/364/1/97

"Epileptogenesis has some mechanisms similar to cancer, including the proliferation of abnormal cells, inflammation and sprouting of the neurons. Our thought was that if HDAC (histone deacetylase) inhibitors could prevent cell-altering mechanisms of cancer, then they could prevent similar mechanisms involved in injury-induced epilepsy.”

In the paper, Reddy and his team, which included student researchers Sandesh Reddy and Bryan Clossen, proposed that the activation of HDAC could be one common mechanism of epilepsy formation after an injury to the brain. This precipitating injury could cause increased HDAC activity, altering the transcription of some genes and thereby contributing to an electrical rewiring of the brain.

In the study, Reddy’s team used an experimental temporal lobe epilepsy model that is widely utilized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for approving antiepileptic medications. The results showed that daily administration of an experimental HDAC inhibitor during the latent period significantly hindered epileptogenesis, even for weeks after discontinuing the treatment.

“These results were totally surprising,” Reddy said. “The long-lasting effects of HDAC inhibition in the brain could be the key for a new treatment to prevent epileptogenesis.”

Even more surprising to the researchers, however, was the finding that HDAC-inhibiting drug therapy also partially broke seizure-prone networks and diminished seizures in subjects with preexisting chronic epilepsy. This discovery has promising clinical significance because there is currently no medication that can reverse the epileptic state, and drugs that reduce seizure activity must be taken indefinitely to continue providing benefit.

“These results suggest that it may be feasible to erase or soften existing epilepsy by shrinking the epileptic state, such that additional treatments are not needed,” Reddy said.