Could silencing of brain-enriched miR-9 reduce seizures in drug resistant epileptic developing brains?

Abstract

Seizure is the most common paediatric neurological disorder, with up to 10% of children having at least one attack of seizures during childhood. Despite the great expansion of seizure treatments in children in the recent years, many patients are refractory to medical treatment. The discovery of microRNAs (miRNAs) revolutionized the world of molecular biology.  Extensive studies have suggested crucial roles for miRNAs in human biology of health and disease. Recently, miRNAs proved to be important players in understanding the pathogenesis of epilepsy and seizure disorders. MiRNAs have furthermore emerged as promising therapeutic targets for multiple neurological and non-neurological disorders. MiR-9 is a brain-enriched miRNA which plays an important role in brain development and is found to be upregulated in an immature rat model with seizures and also in children and adults with epilepsy. Therefore, we postulate that miR-9 might be a potential molecular therapeutic target for anti-convulsant therapy in the developing brains.