Just one nucleotide
The genetic prerequisites for the transition of migraine into a chronic form have been studied
Anton Kurbatov, Indicator
Russian scientists have found out that chronic migraine may be associated with the pain receptor TRPV1, which is related to the development of the disease. One of the variants of its gene is completely absent in patients with chronic migraine. Thanks to this knowledge, doctors will be able to identify the risk group earlier, which will increase the effectiveness of treatment and prevention.
The work was published in the Journal of Molecular Neuroscience (Yakubova et al., Searching for Predictors of Migraine Chronification: a Pilot Study of 1911A>G Polymorphism of TRPV1 Gene in Episodic Versus Chronic Migraine).
Every fifth person in Russia and every seventh in the world suffers from migraines. Because of it, the European Union loses more than 27 billion euros a year, which makes it one of the most costly neurological diseases. Such costs are due to the fact that a person cannot live and work normally, and is also forced to constantly take painkillers. There is chronic and episodic migraine. They differ in the frequency of attacks – chronic migraine manifests itself in at least half of the days in three months.
Supported The Russian Scientific Foundation scientists have found out that various variants of the TRPV1 pain receptor are associated with the appearance of migraines. It affects the emissions of the main pain agent of migraine – the GGRP peptide. Scientists examined blood samples and isolated the nuclear DNA genome from 96 people. Among the participants of the experiment there were 19 with chronic migraine, 27 with episodic and 50 healthy subjects. For the study, the authors chose the site of the TRPV1 coding gene, on which three variants can occur (depending on the different frequency of nucleotides): AA, AG and GG. They studied how these variants were distributed among the subjects. It turned out that patients with chronic migraine completely lacked the GG variant, which was found in healthy and people with episodic migraine. Therefore, scientists have concluded that the absence of the GG variant may indicate a risk of chronic migraine.
"Since the direct and indirect losses from migraine in the global economy are colossal, it is not only a medical problem, but also a significant economic problem. The genetic feature of migraine that we have discovered will allow us to identify patients in advance in whom it can go from episodic to chronic, and to start targeted therapy in a timely manner. This will contribute to more effective prevention and treatment of migraine, and, as a result, minimize its economic costs," said Aliya Yakubova, one of the authors of the article, a junior researcher at the research laboratory "Gene and Cell Technologies" of Kazan Federal University.
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