Researchers find migraine gene

An international group of researchers has identified what might be the first known genetic indicator for migraine risk.

The team from the International Headache Genetics Consortium at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Oxford studied more than 50,000 people and found that people with a particular DNA variant on chromosome 8 are significantly more likely to develop migraine. Statistical analysis showed that a DNA variation found between the PGCP and MTDH/AEG-1 genes on chromosome 8 seems to be linked with increased susceptibility to common migraine. The variant appears to alter the activity of MTDH/AEG-1 in cells, which regulate the activity of the EAAT2 gene.

The EAAT2 protein is responsible for clearing glutamate from synapses in the brain. It has also been linked with various other neurological diseases, including epilepsy, schizophrenia, and various mood and anxiety disorders.

Researchers at the Wellcome Trust are hoping that their discovery of a link between this gene and migraine will help to significantly advance research into the condition.

"Although we knew that the EAAT2 gene has a crucial role to play in neurological processes in humans 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 of University of Ulm, Germany (previously at the University of Cologne where he conducted his research for this study.)

"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."

Approximately one in six women and one in 12 men are affected by migraine, which has now become the most expensive brain disorder in Europe and the US. A recent US study estimated its economic costs as being similar to diabetes.