miR-155-5p/miR-674-3p presence in peripheral blood leukocytes and relative proportion of white blood cell types as biomarkers of asymptomatic and symptomatic phases of temporal lobe epilepsy

Epilepsy frequently develops as a result of brain insult, for example, brain injury or stroke. Currently, there are no tools allowing us to predict which trauma patients will eventually develop epilepsy. There is evidence that microRNAs levels are altered in the blood, making them attractive candidates for peripheral biomarkers of epilepsy. We analyzed white blood cell subpopulations containing miR-155-5p and miR-674-3p, in control and stimulated animals and in control and symptomatic or asymptomatic animals in the amygdala stimulation model. The first proposed early biomarker of epilepsy is the relative proportion of CD45RA+ B cells containing miR-155-5p and/or miR-674-3p. Others are increased number of CD45RA+ B cells containing either miR-155-5p or miR-155-5p and miR-674-3p together or decreased number of CD161+ NK cells not containing miR-155-5p nor miR-674-3p. Additionally, we found that the decreased number of CD4+ T cells can be used as a potential biomarker for identifying epileptic animals with symptomatic epilepsy.