Wisconsin Epilepsy Research Stalls Without Federal Funds
'At this rate we will be having to let people go within months.'
Students walk on campus Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2023, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in Madison, Wis. Angela Major/WPR
Scientists at the University of Wisconsin–Madison said they are struggling to advance study of a potential new epilepsy treatment after the Trump administration’s pause on grant review meetings by the National Institutes of Health.
Scientists at the university recently published a study testing an arthritis medication as a potential treatment for epilepsy. The drug, which is already approved to treat rheumatoid arthritis, showed promise as a possible way to prevent seizures in their study using mice.
The researchers found giving the drug, tofacitinib, to mice with trauma-induced epilepsy prevented seizures, even for months after they stopped the medication. The scientists published their findings in the journal Science Translational Medicine on March 19.
“There’s a big need in the field to find drugs that actually cure the disease, not just treat the symptoms,” said Avtar Roopra, senior author on the study and a professor of neuroscience at UW-Madison.
“And if not curative, then at least be able to shut down the seizures for an extended period, for a long time,” he added.
About 50 million people worldwide have epilepsy, and medication doesn’t work to prevent seizures for about a third of patients. Those people who do get relief from seizures using currently available medication often must remain on the drugs long term.
“The moment you stop taking the drugs, the seizures return,” Roopra said.
Roopra and his team gave epileptic mice tofacitinib for two weeks during a critical stage of their disease.
“And within three or four days, the animals become seizure free,” Roopra said.
“Then — and this is the big part — we can take the drug away, and the animals remain free of seizures for months afterwards. And that’s a first,” he added.
They also found hints that tofacitinib might similarly prevent seizures in humans with epilepsy, including genetic evidence that the group of genes it targets go awry in both mice and human epileptic brains, he said. But they can’t be certain if the treatment will work the same in humans.
“That’s the billion dollar question,” Roopra said. “We are hopeful, that with the publication of this work, this will move to human trials sooner rather than later.”
But the next steps in their lab have been stalled, he said, because a key National Institutes of Health grant review meeting considering a cumulative $3 million dollars grant for 5 years of lab funding was canceled in February, due to a pause initiated by the Trump administration.
“At this burn rate of funds, we will be having to let people go within months,” Roopra said.
Anne Morgan Giroux is the founder of Lily’s Fund, a nonprofit that helps raise money for epilepsy research at UW-Madison. It also supports people like her daughter, who has epilepsy.
“There just hasn’t been a lot of new treatments,” said Morgan Giroux, who was encouraged by Roopra’s early research and helped fund it. “This could be a game changer for millions of people with epilepsy.”
But she’s discouraged and frustrated that the research might not advance.
“This research needs to move forward,” Morgan Giroux said. “There’s something that might be on the horizon that can really help someone.”
Stalling academic research, if only briefly, has large consequences, Roopra said. It can take decades to replace top tier talent who might be forced to leave if funding dries up, he added.
“When people leave, that chain of generational knowledge is broken,” he said. “This is a very dangerous game being played with science funding.”
Cutting funds and personnel at NIH will not only affect his work temporarily, but it will permanently hurt scientific progress across the nation, he said.
“We are awaiting with a bated breath, just hoping that at least the grants will be reviewed,” Roopra said.
Wisconsin epilepsy research stalls without federal funds was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.
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