Research progress of epigenetics in epilepsy

Abstract

Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological disorders with complex manifestations and etiologies. It is widely influenced by hereditary and environmental elements. Traditional genetic mechanism can not well explain the reason that epilepsy occurs. Therefore, epigenetics, which explores the effects of environment or non DNA sequential changes on gene expression, may provide a new perspective to unravel the underlying cause. This article intends to discuss recent research progress of epigenetics, which is likely to provide a new perspective to explain why epilepsy occurs and how to treat epilepsy in clinical practice.

DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1672-6731.2018.06.003