Five genetic regions linked to the onset and susceptibility of migraine have been identified by scientists in a large-scale genome study.
The study opens new doors to understanding the cause and biological triggers that underlie migraine attacks.
The team of international researchers identified 12 genetic regions associated with migraine susceptibility. Eight of these regions were found in or near genes known to play a role in controlling brain circuitries and two of the regions were associated with genes that are responsible for maintaining healthy brain tissue.
The regulation of these pathways may be important to the genetic susceptibility of migraines.
Migraine is a debilitating disorder that affects approximately 14 per cent of adults. It is an extremely difficult disorder to study because no biomarkers between or during attacks have been identified so far.
"This study has greatly advanced our biological insight about the cause of migraine," said Dr Aarno Palotie, from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in UK.
"Migraine and epilepsy are particularly difficult neural conditions to study; between episodes the patient is basically healthy so it's extremely difficult to uncover biochemical clues.
"We have proven that this is the most effective approach to study this type of neurological disorder and understand the biology that lies at the heart of it," Palotie said.
The team uncovered the underlying susceptibilities by comparing the results from 29 different genomic studies, including over 100,000 samples from both migraine patients and control samples.
They found that some of the regions of susceptibility lay close to a network of genes that are sensitive to oxidative stress, a biochemical process that results in the dysfunction of cells.
The team expects many of the genes at genetic regions associated with migraine are interconnected and could potentially be disrupting the internal regulation of tissue and cells in the brain, resulting in some of the symptoms of migraine.
The team identified an additional 134 genetic regions that are possibly associated to migraine susceptibility with weaker statistical evidence. Whether these regions underlie migraine susceptibility or not still needs to be elucidated.
Other similar studies show that these statistically weaker culprits can play an equal part in the underlying biology of a disease or disorder.
