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Epileptic Disorders

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Construction and analysis of a competing endogenous RNA network associated with circRNAs dysregulated in medial temporal lobe epilepsy Volume 24, numéro 2, April 2022

TEST YOURSELF

 

(1) What are the clinical features of MTLE?

 

(2) What are the possible mechanisms by which CircRNAs influence medial temporal lobe epilepsy?

 

 

 

 

 

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Answers

(1) The common clinical features of MTLE are well described and consistent in most patients. Fevers, head trauma, perinatal injuries, congenital brain malformations, central nervous system infections, and brain tumors are common causes. Up to two thirds of MTLE patients may have febrile seizures before they develop focal seizures. If sustained, febrile seizures can cause hippocampal oedema and progress to hippocampal sclerosis. Focal seizures with or without impairment of consciousness are the most common type of mTLE. Persistent seizures and prolonged seizures are rare.

 

(2) The modes of action of circRNAs mainly include ceRNA networks and circRNA host genes. Abnormal circRNAs may regulate multiple epileptic mRNAs through circRNA‐miRNA‐mRNA interactions, thus playing a pathophysiological role in epilepsy. circRNAs have also been shown to control transcription of host genes and directly synthesize short peptides/proteins. Although the prediction, identification and expression analysis of circRNAs have been widely studies, reports on the prediction, identification and expression analysis of circRNAs related to epilepsy are limited. CircRNAs have been proposed as a biomarker for cancer and other diseases, but there is no report on circRNAs as a biomarker for epilepsy. However, due to the structural stability and abundant expression of circRNAs, further research is likely to reveal more effective biomarkers for epilepsy or other neurological diseases. The biological functions of circRNAs are still largely unknown. Natural RNA circles functioning as efficient microRNA sponges was first proposed and confirmed as the regulatory mechanism for circRNA sponges. Through the interaction with disease-associated miRNAs, circRNAs play an important regulatory role in disease, providing a new dawn for the study of circRNA. In addition, circRNAs can also adsorb proteins, regulate the transcription of genes, interfere with splicing of genes and translation into polypeptides. At present, the research on circRNAs is only the tip of the iceberg, and the biological functions of circRNAs also need to be explored, thus this is clearly a worthwhile direction for future research.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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