The effects of ketogenic diet on the Th17/Treg cells imbalance in patients with intractable childhood epilepsy.

•Th17/Treg cell imbalance exists in intractable childhood epilepsy (IE).•Abnormal mTOR/HIF-1α signaling pathway affects Th17/Treg balance in IE.•Over-expression of HIF-1α may be due to abnormal expression of mTOR in IE.•KD can restore the mTOR/HIF-1α signaling pathway to a normal level in IE.