Abstract: We aimed to assess serum level of tissue plasminogen activator (tPA)
in children with idiopathic epilepsy aiming to find a pathogenic relationship
and correlate it with disease intractability, severity, effect of antiepileptic
drug therapy and epilepsy control. The study comprised of 24 children with
idiopathic epilepsy either on monotherapy or polytherapy. Sixteen children with
controlled idiopathic focal and generalized epilepsy while eight were
intractable to antiepileptic drugs treatment. Serum tissue plasminogen
activator was assessed in the patient group and compared to non-epileptic
healthy controls; furthermore, the level of tPA was correlated to the epilepsy
severity. Level of tPA was significantly increased in epileptic patients
compared to controls (6.11 ± 6.11 ng/dL, and 2.61
± 1.69 ng/dL, respectively) (P < 0.001). Among the epileptic patient group, serum level of tPA was significantly
increased in the intractable group compared to the controlled focal group and
controlled generalized group. Also, serum tPA was significantly increased in
patients on antiepileptic drugs polytherapy compared to patients on
monotherapy. Increased serum tPA level was positively correlated with the
epilepsy severity (r=0.612; P< 0.001).
Hence, tPA could be one of the pathogenic endogenously produced chemical
substances linked to childhood epilepsy and potential marker of epilepsy
intractability.
