Neuroinflammation, implicated in epilepsy, can be imaged in humans with positron emission tomography (PET) ligands for translocator protein 18 kDa (TSPO).
TSPO-targeted PET is a highly potent longitudinal biomarker of epilepsy and could be of interest to determine the therapeutic windows in epilepsy and to monitor response to treatment.
Regional PET imaging did not correlate with SRS frequency, however, by applying a multivariate data-driven modeling approach based on translocator protein PET imaging at 2weeks post-status epilepticus, we accurately predicted the frequency of SRS (R=0.92; R<sup>2</sup>=0.86; P<0.0001) at the onset of epilepsy.
Here, we outline the principles and potential pitfalls of TSPO PET imaging in relation to epilepsy, and opportunities for using TSPO imaging as a biomarker for future anti-inflammatory based therapeutics in epilepsy.
Increased binding sites for "peripheral-type" benzodiazepine receptor (PTBR) ligands have been described in a wide range of neurological disorders including both human and experimental epilepsy.