Last modified: 2018-09-09
Abstract
Objective: Visinin-like protein-1 (VILIP-1) is a neuronal calcium-sensor protein and is found in all CNS locations. It is known that VILIP-1 has a potential utility as a marker of neuronal injury. Acute encephalopathy/encephalitis in childhood is a life-threatening disease that can result in the neurological sequelae. Acute encephalopathy with biphasic seizures and late reduced diffusion (AESD) is one type of acute encephalopathy. It is difficult to distinguish AESD from prolonged febrile seizures (PFS) during the initial stage. We investigated the neuronal damage by using VILIP-1 in children with AESD or PFS, and analyzed that VILIP-1 could be diagnostic markers in AESD during the early stage.
Methods: The study participants included in 15 children with AESD and 25 with PFS. The serum and CSF concentrations of VILIP-1 were quantified using an ELISA kit.
Results: Serum VILIP-1 levels in children with AESD were significantly higher than those in PFS and the controls (p=0.014, and p<0.001, respectively). A deceased patients with AESD had markedly elevated serum levels of VILIP-1 (>3,000 ng/mL). Serum VILIP-1 levels in children with PFS were significantly higher than those in the controls (p=0.004). CSF VILIP-1 levels in children with AESD were significantly higher than those in PFS and the controls (p=0.011, and p<0.001, respectively).
Conclusions: Our results suggest that serum and CSF VILIP-1 levels could be diagnostic and prognostic markers in early AESD, and PFS could lead to some degree of neuronal damage even in the absence of abnormal clinical neurological findings during the short-term follow up period.