Figure 4

Neural cell acute phase responses in epilepsy relative to APOE genotype IL-1α mRNA levels in temporal lobe tissue from epilepsy patients were elevated compared to levels in control patients (A). With the exception of one patient with APOE ε4,4 genotype, patients with epilepsy had mRNA levels that were greater than those of control patients (B). By Western blot (C), the relative levels of IL-1α protein from epilepsy patients with APOE ε3,3 were four-fold higher (51 ± 29) than those from either epilepsy patients with APOE ε4,4 genotype (8.6 ± 4.3) or those of neurologically normal controls (6.3 ± 1.2; P = 0.01 for all comparisons) (D). These elevations in both IL-1α mRNA and protein levels were accompanied by an increase in βAPP expression (E) that was limited to APOE ε3,3 patients (APOE ε3,3 = 42 ± 11 vs APOE ε4,4 = 20 ± 11 and control = 21 ± 7; P = 0.03 for all comparisons) (F).