Figure 2.

Epileptogenesis is considered to follow a progressive model. After the initial precipitating injury (IPI), the brain parenchyma enters a latent phase in which the ability to generate spontaneous recurrent seizures (SRSs) is established. In the chronic stage, upon initiation of unprovoked seizure activity, epileptogenic molecular and structural remodeling progress with time. DNA methylation profiling along the different timeframes of epileptogenesis would potentially represent a valuable approach for the development of novel non-invasive biomarkers. Possible analytical strategies include detection of altered cfDNA methylation patterns in pathological settings in comparison to controls, or estimation of the percentage of tissue or cell type contribution to the circulating cfDNA pool, which potentially insights on occurring CNS-specific cell death in the early stages of the disease. MSP, Methylation-Specific PCR; RRBS, reduced representation bisulfite sequencing; WBGS, whole genome bisulfite sequencing.