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Copyright: ©Author(s) 2026. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license. No commercial re-use. See permissions. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc.
World J Clin Cases. Mar 16, 2026; 14(8): 118420
Published online Mar 16, 2026. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v14.i8.118420
Temporal lobe epilepsy as a model of accelerated brain aging: Roles of biological aging markers and microRNA dysregulation
Rekha Dwivedi, Rashmi Gupta, Monika Pahuja, Jasmine Parihar, Manjari Tripathi, Rima Dada, Prabhakar Tiwari
Rekha Dwivedi, Jasmine Parihar, Manjari Tripathi, Department of Neurology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi 110029, Delhi, India
Rashmi Gupta, Rima Dada, Prabhakar Tiwari, Department of Anatomy, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi 110029, Delhi, India
Monika Pahuja, Department of Discovery, Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi 110029, Delhi, India
Author contributions: Dwivedi R performed the literature search, conceptualized the review theme, and drafted the initial manuscript; Gupta R contributed to literature acquisition, data interpretation, and manuscript writing; Pahuja M assisted in organizing mechanistic pathways and critically revised the scientific content; Parihar J contributed to analysis of clinical literature and manuscript synthesis; Tripathi M provided clinical expertise, refined content related to temporal lobe epilepsy phenotype and outcome interpretation, and critically reviewed the manuscript; Dada R contributed expertise on molecular aging and microRNA biology, supervised the intellectual content, and reviewed the manuscript; Tiwari P conceived the overall framework, coordinated manuscript development, integrated revisions, and finalized the manuscript; all authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Corresponding author: Prabhakar Tiwari, PhD, Senior Researcher, Department of Anatomy, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Ansari Nagar, New Delhi 110029, Delhi, India. prabhakt@gmail.com
Received: January 2, 2026
Revised: January 20, 2026
Accepted: February 10, 2026
Published online: March 16, 2026
Processing time: 75 Days and 2.8 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is considered as a seizure disorder, but evidence indicates it is a progressive condition resembling accelerated brain aging. Patients with chronic TLE show early cognitive decline, hippocampal atrophy, neuroinflammation, and neurodegenerative changes beyond age expectations. This mini-review highlights key aging hallmarks in TLE, including oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, chronic inflammation (“inflammaging”), impaired proteostasis, and autophagy dysregulation, and emphasizes microRNAs as epigenetic regulators linking epileptogenesis to neuronal aging. Elucidating the underlying mechanisms of TLE may facilitate the identification of robust biomarkers and inform the development of disease-modifying interventions that extend beyond symptomatic seizure management.