Project description:ObjectiveTo investigate feasibility, safety, and tolerability of long-term (48 weeks) add-on treatment with triheptanoin (UX007), the triglyceride of heptanoate, in adults with drug-resistant epilepsy.MethodsThis extension study was offered to adult participants with drug-resistant epilepsy who completed a 12-week randomized controlled trial of add-on medium-chain triglycerides (MCT) vs triheptanoin. Participants were asked to titrate triheptanoin to their maximum tolerated dose over 3 weeks, followed by 48-week maintenance before tapering or treatment extension. The primary aims were to assess retention and safety of the triheptanoin treatment, and secondary aims to assess the tolerated doses and changes in seizure frequency.ResultsEleven adults were enrolled and ten people were analyzed (because one patient was diagnosed as having nonepileptic seizures while on the study). Two adults finished the study and extended their treatment. Eight participants withdrew from the study, due to lack of efficacy (n = 3), unknown reasons (n = 2), belief of weight gain (n = 1), wanting to try a different treatment (n = 1), and a colonoscopy (n = 1). Diarrhea in two people and bloating in one person were deemed possibly related to treatment, but other adverse events were not. The duration of maintenance treatment dose was 27-513 days (median 247 days, range 27-513 days), and 0.49 -1.1 mL/kg triheptanoin was taken per day (0.77 ± 0.19 mL/kg, mean ± standard deviation, 40-100 mL/d). Two participants experienced >90% and three people >50% reduction in seizure frequency, and all had focal seizures. The median seizure reduction was 48% (average 38%).SignificanceOur results indicate antiseizure effects of triheptanoin on focal seizures in 5 out of 10 adults. However, only two people finished and extended the 48-week add-on treatment phase, despite lack of safety or tolerability issues.More studies focused on improved treatment formulations, the potential of lower dosages, and efficacy are needed. Trial registration number: ACTRN12615000406505.
Project description:Focal epilepsy represents one of the most common chronic CNS diseases. The high incidence of drug resistance, devastating comorbidities and insufficient responsiveness to surgery pose unmet medical challenges. In the quest of novel, disease-modifying treatment strategies neuropeptides represent promising candidates. Here we provide the "proof of concept" that gene therapy by adeno-associated virus (AAV) vector transduction of preprodynorphin into the epileptogenic focus of well-accepted mouse and rat models for temporal lobe epilepsy leads to suppression of seizures over months. The debilitating long-term decline of spatial learning and memory is prevented. In human hippocampal slices obtained form epilepsy surgery, dynorphins suppressed seizure-like activity, suggestive of a high potential for clinical translation. AAV-delivered preprodynorphin expression is focally and neuronally restricted and release is dependent on high-frequency stimulation, as it occurs at the onset of seizures. The novel format of "release on demand" dynorphin delivery is viewed as a key to prevent habituation and to minimize the risk of adverse effects, leading to long-term suppression of seizures and of their devastating sequel.
Project description:Despite reported success, surgery for pharmacoresistant seizures is often seen as a last resort. Patients are typically referred for surgery after 20 years of seizures, often too late to avoid significant disability and premature death.We sought to determine whether surgery soon after failure of 2 antiepileptic drug (AED) trials is superior to continued medical management in controlling seizures and improving quality of life (QOL).The Early Randomized Surgical Epilepsy Trial (ERSET) is a multicenter, controlled, parallel-group clinical trial performed at 16 US epilepsy surgery centers. The 38 participants (18 men and 20 women; aged ?12 years) had mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE) and disabling seizues for no more than 2 consecutive years following adequate trials of 2 brand-name AEDs. Eligibility for anteromesial temporal resection (AMTR) was based on a standardized presurgical evaluation protocol. Participants were randomized to continued AED treatment or AMTR 2003-2007, and observed for 2 years. Planned enrollment was 200, but the trial was halted prematurely due to slow accrual.Receipt of continued AED treatment (n = 23) or a standardized AMTR plus AED treatment (n = 15). In the medical group, 7 participants underwent AMTR prior to the end of follow-up and 1 participant in the surgical group never received surgery.The primary outcome variable was freedom from disabling seizures during year 2 of follow-up. Secondary outcome variables were health-related QOL (measured primarily by the 2-year change in the Quality of Life in Epilepsy 89 [QOLIE-89] overall T-score), cognitive function, and social adaptation.Zero of 23 participants in the medical group and 11 of 15 in the surgical group were seizure free during year 2 of follow-up (odds ratio = ?; 95% CI, 11.8 to ?; P < .001). In an intention-to-treat analysis, the mean improvement in QOLIE-89 overall T-score was higher in the surgical group than in the medical group but this difference was not statistically significant (12.6 vs 4.0 points; treatment effect = 8.5; 95% CI, -1.0 to 18.1; P = .08). When data obtained after surgery from participants in the medical group were excluded, the effect of surgery on QOL was significant (12.8 vs 2.8 points; treatment effect = 9.9; 95% CI, 2.2 to 17.7; P = .01). Memory decline (assessed using the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test) occurred in 4 participants (36%) after surgery, consistent with rates seen in the literature; but the sample was too small to permit definitive conclusions about treatment group differences in cognitive outcomes. Adverse events included a transient neurologic deficit attributed to a magnetic resonance imaging-identified postoperative stroke in a participant who had surgery and 3 cases of status epilepticus in the medical group.Among patients with newly intractable disabling MTLE, resective surgery plus AED treatment resulted in a lower probability of seizures during year 2 of follow-up than continued AED treatment alone. Given the premature termination of the trial, the results should be interpreted with appropriate caution.clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00040326.