Found: Genetic link to common migraine

29^th August 2010 - An international team of researchers say they have found the first ever genetic risk factor associated with common types of migraine.

The team found that patients with a particular DNA variant have a significantly greater risk of developing migraine. They suggest that the variant causes an accumulation of a chemical known as glutamate in the brain’s nerve cell junctions which may play an important role in triggering migraine attacks.

Gene variants

In the past, investigations have found genetic mutations giving rise to rare and extreme forms of migraine. However, this is understood to be the first time that variants have been found that are associated with the most common type of migraine.

The findings are being hailed as a significant breakthrough in helping to solve the world’s most common neurological condition and one that, in the UK affects one in four women and one in 12 men.

The team behind the discovery say they hope their research will open the door for new treatments. One migraine charity in the UK has described the findings as a “breakthrough”.

The research

The research, which was led by the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute based in Cambridge, involved studying the genetic data of more than 50,000 people. They compared the genomes of more than 3,000 people from Finland, Germany and The Netherlands with migraine with the genomes of more than 10,000 non-migraineurs in order to highlight genetic differences that might increase the likelihood of developing migraine.

In order to confirm the link, they compared the genomes of a second group of more than 3,000 patients with more than 40,000 apparently healthy people.

Dr Aarno Palotie, chair of the Institute’s International Headache Genetics Consortium, said in a statement:  “This is the first time we have been able to peer into the genomes of many thousands of people and find genetic clues to understand common migraine.”

After analysing the data they found that a DNA variation on chromosome 8 appears to be associated with increased susceptibility to common migraine. The effect of the variant alters activity in the EAAT2 gene which produces a protein responsible for clearing glutamate from nerve synapses in the brain.

“Although we knew that the EAAT2 gene has a crucial role to play in neurological processes in human and potentially in the development of migraine, until now, no genetic link has been identified to suggest that glutamate accumulation in the brain could play a role in common migraine,” says co-senior author of the study Professor Christian Kubisch in a statement.

Kubisch adds that, “This research opens the door for new studies to look in depth at the biology of the disease and how this alteration in particular may exert its effect.”

The authors warn that more research is needed and that future studies should involve a wider sample of people.