Drug Resistance in Epilepsy

The object of this book is to gather together workers in the fields of epilepsy, those concerned with the basic science of resistance and the blood-brain barrier, and those with clinical experience of drug resistance in cancer, with a view to stimulating further work on drug resistance in epilepsy. Whilst resistance in cancer has been extensively studied, and trials of reversal of resistance have been undertaken, with some success, resistance in epilepsy has only just begun to be addressed. Chair's Introduction (V. Ling).

The problem of the drug-resistant epilepsies (J. W. Sander).

Drug resistance molecules: lessons from oncology (George L.Scheffer and Rik J. Scheper).

Drug resistance in epilepsy: the role of the blood-brain barrier(N. Joan Abbott, et al.).

P glycoprotein and the mechanism of multidrug resistance (A.Varadi, et al).

Drug resistance caused by multidrug resistance-associated proteins(J. Wijnholds).

Reversal of multidrug resistance: lessons from clinical oncology(S. E. Bates, et al.).

Clinical development of P glycoprotein modulators in oncology (A.Oza).

Gene expression profiling of epothilone A-resistant cells (P.Atadja, et al.).

Imaging of P glycoprotein function in vivo with PET (N. H.Hendrikse and W. Vaalburg).

Animal models of drug-resistant epilepsy (W. Loscher).

Drug resistance in epilepsy: human epilepsy (S. M. Sisodiya, etal).

Cellular mechanisms of pharmacoresistance in slices from epilepsysurgery (R. A. Deisz).

Functional polymorphisms of the human multidrug resistance (MDR1)gene: correlation with P glycoprotein expression and activity invivo (U. Brinkmann).

OC144-093, a novel P glycoprotein inhibitor for the enhancement ofanti-epileptic therapy (M. J. Newman, et al.).

Closing remarks (V. Ling).

Index of contributors.

Subject Index. The Novartis Foundation is an international scientific and educational charity which promotes the study and general knowledge of science and in particular encourages international co-operation in scientific research. Drug resistance in epilepsy is an important clinical problem. About 20% of patients diagnosed as having epilepsy fail to respond to prescribed antiepileptic drugs and continue to have seizures. But despite the size of the problem, remarkably little attention has been paid to the biological basis of refractory epilepsy. Recent work has shown that brain tissue from some patients with epilepsy shows increased expression of a protein that mediates drug resistance in cancer, P glycoprotein. But while resistance in cancer has been extensively studied, and trials of reversal of resistance have been undertaken with some success, resistance in epilepsy has only just begun to be addressed. This novel book brings together, for the first time, epilepsy researchers and oncologists, with a view to stimulating further work on drug resistance in epilepsy. Successfully bridging the two fields, the stimulating discussions contained in this book should be of great interest to those working on cancer resistance and refractory epilepsy alike.