Certain combinations of mutations in the given progenitor cell ultimately result in that cell (also called a cancer stem cell) displaying a number of abnormal, malignant cellular properties that, when taken together, are considered characteristic of cancer, including:

the ability to continue to divide perpetually, producing an exponentially (or near-exponentially) increasing number of new malignant cancerous "daughter cells" (uncontrolled mitosis);
the ability to penetrate normal body surfaces and barriers, and to bore into or through nearby body structures and tissues (local invasiveness);
the ability to spread to other sites within the body (metastasize) by penetrating or entering into the lymphatic vessels (regional metastasis) and/or the blood vessels (distant metastasis).If this process of continuous growth, local invasion, and regional and distant metastasis is not halted via a combination of stimulation of immunological defenses and medical treatment interventions, the result is that the host has a continuously increasing burden of tumor cells throughout the body. Eventually, the tumor burden increasingly interferes with normal biochemical functions carried out by the hosts organs, and death ultimately ensues. Carcinoma is but one form of cancer—one composed of cells that have developed the cytological appearance, histological architecture, or molecular characteristics of epithelial cells. A progenitor carcinoma stem cell can be formed from any of a number of oncogenic combinations of mutations in a totipotent cell, a multipotent cell, or a mature differentiated cell.
It has a half life of 21 hours and a steady state of the drug is reached in 4 days in patients with normal renal function. Most of the drug (70%) is excreted in the urine unchanged. The remainder is extensively metabolized by hydroxylation, hydrolysis, and glucuronidation. Six metabolites have been identified in humans, none of which constitutes more than 5% of an administered dose. Several cellular targets have been proposed to be relevant to the therapeutic activity of topiramate. These include (1) voltage-gated sodium channels; (2) high-voltage-activated calcium channels; (3) GABA-A receptors; (4) AMPA/kainate receptors; and (5) carbonic anhydrase isoenzymes. There is evidence that topiramate may alter the activity of its targets by modifying their phosphorylation state instead of by a direct action. The effect on sodium channels could be of particular relevance for seizure protection. Although topiramate does inhibit high-voltage-activated calcium channels, the relevance to clinical activity is uncertain. Effects on specific GABA-A receptor isoforms could also contribute to the antiseizure activity of the drug. Topiramate selectively inhibits cytosolic (type II) and membrane associated (type IV) forms of carbonic anhydrase. The action on carbonic anhydrase isoenzymes may contribute to the drugs side-effects, including its propensity to cause metabolic acidosis and calcium phosphate kidney stones. Topiramate inhibits maximal seizure activity in electroconvulsive therapy and in pentylenetetrazol-induced seizures as well as partial and secondarily generalized tonic-clonic seizures in the kindling model, findings predictive of a broad spectrum of activities clinically.