Flupirtine may stop the progressive course of subacute sclerosing panencephalitis

Summary Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) is a progressive devastating disease. Along with the slow measles virus infection, apoptotic cell death has shown to be one of the major mechanisms at the pathogenesis. Volume reduction in frontotemporal cortex has seen in patients at early stages of disease. At present, there is no effective treatment to completely cure SSPE. Oral isoprinosine and intrathecal or intraventricular alpha-interferon are anti viral therapies with limited success. Flupirtine is an anti apoptotic agent which has been used with limited success in Alzheimer disease, prion diseases and neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis which is a inherited disease of apoptosis related genes. Therefore, we hypothesize that flupirtine with combination of antiviral therapy may halt the progressive course of the disease.