Epilepsy is a persistent neurological condition that affects 60 million individuals globally, with recurrent spontaneous seizures affecting 80% of patients. Antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) are the main course of therapy for approximately 65% of epileptic patients, and the remaining 35% develop resistance to medication, which leads to Drug-Resistant Epilepsy (DRE). DRE continues to be an important challenge in clinical epileptology. There are several theories that attempt to explain the neurological causes of pharmacoresistance in epilepsy. The theory that has been studied the most is the transporter hypothesis. Therefore, it is believed that upregulation of multidrug efflux transporters at the blood-brain barrier (BBB), such as P-glycoprotein (P-gp), which extrudes AEDs from their target location, is the major cause, leading to pharmacoresistance in epilepsy. The most effective strategies for managing this DRE are peripheral and central inhibition of P-gp and maintaining an effective concentration of the drug in the brain parenchyma. Presently, no medicinal product that inhibits P-gp is being used in clinical practice. In this review, several innovative and promising treatment methods, including gene therapy, intracranial injections, Pgp inhibitors, nanocarriers, and precision medicine, are discussed. The primary goal of this work is to review the P-gp transporter, its substrates, and the latest novel treatment methods for the management of DRE.
Keywords: Antiepileptic drug; P-glycoprotein inhibitor; blood-brain barrier; drug-resistant epilepsy; nanocarriers; precision medicines.
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