Genetic changes cause of migraine?

Researchers discovered genetic migraine triggers

06/11/2012

Many people in Germany suffer from migraines. While migraine in some of them is accompanied by so-called aura symptoms, a majority of those affected simply struggles with massive headaches without corresponding side effects. Current research indicates that this most common form of migraine is due to changes in the genome of patients.

„Migraine without aura is the most common form of migraine, which is characterized by recurrent headaches and associated vegetative symptoms“, write the researchers of the International Headache Genetics Consortium in the journal „Nature Genetics“. The scientists are identified by four „genetic variants“ succeeded, which are observed only in this most common form of migraine. From previous studies it was already known that migraine without aura can be genetically determined, but it has remained unclear which gene segments are responsible for this. For the first time, the researchers of the International Headache Genetics Consortium have succeeded in identifying specific genes that are specific to them „debilitating neurological disorder“ could be responsible.

Four genetic changes discovered in migraine patients
In the context of their study, the scientists analyzed the data of 2,326 German and Dutch patients with migraine without aura and of 4,580 subjects in a control group. The researchers were able to identify four sites in the genome that were altered exclusively in migraine patients. Like the authors Tobias Freilinger from the University of Munich, Verneri Anttila from the University of Cambridge (Great Britain) and Boukje de Vries from Leiden University (Netherlands) in the journal „Nature Genetics“ (Reportedly, two of the identified genomic mutations in headache patients were near the gene sections that affect blood flow through the brain, in line with previous assumptions that brain vessels and blood flow are also associated with onset stand by migraine.

The other two newly discovered gene variants have been discovered in sections of the genome, which contribute to the regulation of the number and activity of synapses in the brain, so the statement of the scientists. Since synaptic manifestations play an important role in the processing of information in the brain, the gene variants discovered here also fit into the current picture of migraine. „It is known that the brain is over-excitable in migraineurs“, why the suspicion is suggested that the identified gene variants promote the transmission of exciting signals in migraine patients without aura, write the researchers.

Identified genes open up new perspectives in migraine research
One of the study leaders, Arn van den Maagdenberg, from the Medical Center of Leiden University stressed that „the genes now identified open up new avenues for us to explore how this form of migraine arises.“The scientists of the University Hospital Munich, the Universities of Cambridge, Helsinki, Leiden, Barcelona, ​​Oslo, Brisbane (Australia), Ulm, Liège (Belgium), Turku (Finland), Tampere (Finland) and Trondheim (Norway) as well as the Headache Center Kiel, the Helmholtz Zentrum München, the Erasmus Medical Center Rotterdam and many other experts from the International Headache Genetics Consortium are investigating the genetic causes of migraine. They specifically addressed the migraine patients without aura symptoms, as these form the majority of those affected.

For example, the term aura in the context of migraine refers to the appearance of dizziness, blurred vision or numbness in the fingers. Often, the aura symptoms show up even before the actual headache sets in. However, most migraine sufferers are spared the aura symptoms. Overall, according to the scientists about twelve percent of the population occasionally suffer from migraine.

Migraines with and without aura
A completely detached consideration of migraine with and without aura makes only limited sense, since the other symptoms are usually the same and also in the genetic variants are partly consistent. For example, in addition to the four previously unknown gene variants, the researchers have also identified two changes in the genetic material that had previously been detected in migraine patients with aura. This suggests that some of the genes involved in both types of migraine are altered, which could possibly also explain the relationships in the symptoms, the scientists report. (Fp)

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