Inflammation may drive Dravet syndrome, offering a potential new treatment target

An overactive immune response in the brain may play a role in Dravet syndrome, a rare and severe genetic epilepsy that typically begins in infancy, according to Weill Cornell Medicine researchers.

Children with the condition experience frequent seizures that are often difficult to control with medication and may also face developmental, cognitive and behavioral challenges.

Until now, most research has focused on how a mutation in the SCN1A gene disrupts electrical signaling in the brain. ...