Differential activation of neuroinflammatory pathways in children with seizures: A cross-sectional study

Abstract Purpose Inflammation plays a crucial role in epileptogenesis. We analyzed inflammatory cytokines in plasma and saliva from children with seizures and healthy controls and measured their associations with HHV6 and EBV infection. Methods We analyzed plasma from 36 children within 24 h of seizures (cases) and 43 healthy controls and saliva from 44 cases and 44 controls with a multiplex immunoassay. Saliva from all controls and 65 cases and blood from 26 controls and 35 cases were also analyzed by PCR for viral DNA. Primary outcome was cytokine levels in cases vs. controls. Secondary outcomes included detection of HHV-6 and EBV viral DNA in cases vs. controls and viral loads in cases vs. controls. Statistical analysis included the Wilcoxon Rank Sum test, Fisher's exact test, ANOVA, and Spearman correlation. Results Compared to controls, patients had higher levels of CCL11 (p = 0.0018), CCL26 (p Conclusions We showed differential activation of neuroinflammatory pathways in plasma from different seizure etiologies compared to controls, unrelated to viral infection.