About one-third of the people who have epilepsy don’t respond to any of the nearly twenty medications available to treat the seizure disorder, according to Charles Ákos Szabó, MD, Professor of Neurology and Chief of Epilepsy at UT Health San Antonio.
"So any new medication that has a new mechanism of action is highly desirable, and, of course, may help us sort of reduce the number of people who may need to turn to other types of therapies," Szabó said.
Szabó is now studying one such medication. It's a new type of compound that seeks to ease what he calls brain excitability.
Professor of Neurology
Chief, Epilepsy Division
The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
"All of our neurons are, of course, excitable, fortunately, because that's how we can communicate, that's how we perceive things, that's why we can think," Szabó said. "But when there's a little bit over excitation, then you have more of the neurons sort of following the same drumbeat. And in that case, that's not very good, because then they're not performing their functions anymore. They're actually being overridden by this drumbeat."
That, Szabó, said, is the definition of a seizure. One of the medications Szabó is currently studying in a clinical trial takes a different approach to calming over-excited neurons, targeting the potassium channel.
"Traditionally, we've been dealing with mainly sodium and calcium channel blockers, or medications that block neurotransmission" Szabó said. "But this is, this is a new approach."
He says earlier trials have had promising results, and it is an incredibly hopeful time for people with epilepsy.
"Many of the people who have epilepsy can actually have very normal lives," Szabó said. "And there are many people that you would be surprised to know — who are in your surroundings, interacting with you in professional areas, or even in Starbucks — who have epilepsy and are functioning very normally."
Szabó and UT Health San Antonio are also involved with the Human Epilepsy Project, which has as a goal that every person with epilepsy can get appropriate treatment — or even a cure.
Science & Medicine is a collaboration between TPR and The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio that explores how scientific discovery in San Antonio advances the way medicine is practiced everywhere.
