Abstract
Background Tetranectin concentration has been identified as a biomarker of several types of
metastatic and malignant cancers. The role of tetranectin has also be seen in some
neurological disorders. We aimed to estimate the plasma tetranectin concentration
in different groups of people with epilepsy (PWE) followed-up for a year. As a secondary
objective, the clinical and social characteristics were also correlated with the tetranectin
levels.
Methods We enrolled 90 subjects grouped as Newly-diagnosed epilepsy (NDE), Drug-effective
epilepsy (DEE), and Drug-refractory epilepsy (DRE) and an age-gender matched control
group (n = 30). The plasma samples were collected thrice at the six-month interval
and were analysed for the tetranectin concentration using S-ELISA.
Results The mean plasma tetranectin levels at the baseline test were significantly lower
for the DEE (6.294 ± 0.806) and DRE (7.572 ± 0.545) groups compared with control group
(9.71 ± 0.628) but not the NDE group (8.651 ± 0.859 vs. 9.71 ± 0.628; p > 0.05). On
a year of follow-up, the tetranectin levels for the NDE group significantly decreased
(p < 0.001) matching with that of the DEE and DRE group. Multivariate linear regression
analysis showed that gender (p = 0.035) in the DRE group and seizure type (p = 0.040)
and diet (p = 0.046) for the NDE group were significantly correlated.
Conclusion The plasma tetranectin level in PWE significantly decreased as the disease progressed
irrespective of the stage of epilepsy. Thus, tetranectin could be considered as a
potential progressive biomarker for epilepsy. The study outcome suggests further investigation
for the possible link of tetranectin levels with clinical and social parameters.
Keywords
Tetranectin - Biomarker - Newly-diagnosed epilepsy - Drug-effective epilepsy - Drug-refractory
epilepsy
