Review Article Volume 7 Issue 4
1Faculty of Biology of Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia
2University diagnostic laboratory, Russia
3University Headache Clinic, Russia
4Department of Neuroscience, I.M.Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University, Russia
5Centre of Theoretical Problems of Physico-Chemical Pharmacology, Russia
6I.I. Mechnikov Research Institute for Vaccines and Sera RAMS, Russia
7Department of neurology and neurosurgery, I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University, Russia
Correspondence: Eugene Klimov, Faculty of Biology of Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia
Received: March 18, 2017 | Published: September 19, 2017
Citation: Klimov E, Kondratieva N, Anuchina A, Skorobogatykh K, Azimova J, et al. (2017) Genetics of Migraine - Is There any Progress? J Neurol Stroke 7(4): 00245. DOI: 10.15406/jnsk.2017.07.00245
Nowadays migraine ranks 9th in the list of leading causes of disability among population. In Russia migraine prevalence is two times higher than the world index and inflicts a considerable damage on the state economy. Despite almost one-century history of studying migraine, science until now cannot explain many cases of attack occurrence. It causes difficulties both for diagnosis and treatment – the therapy of patients with migraine is not sufficiently effective. Today one of the investigation directions is searching of migraine biomarkers confirming diagnosis. In this review we attempted to generalize the results of available works targeted at searching genetic markers of migraine.
Keywords: migraine, gene,polymorphism
Migraine is now one of the leading causes of disability (ranks 9th according to the WHO), comparable to such diseases as cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and others. In the female population, migraine-related disability ratio promotes this disease to 3rd place. According to epidemiological studies, migraine prevalence in the world for 1 year in the adult population ranges on average from 10.2%1 to 14.7 %.2 In Russia, migraine prevalence exceeds world figures almost 1.5-2 fold, being 20.3%, and annual indirect costs (days lost due to disability) related to primary headaches total US $22.8 billion (1.75% of Russia’s gross domestic product).3 Thus, migraine is not only a medical, but also a significant economic problem.
Until now, the diagnosis of "migraine" is exclusively clinical, and any diagnostic tests are aimed only at excluding other causes of headache.4 There are also problems with migraine treatment and although both traditional analgesics and specific anti-migraine products are available in the market, treatment of migraine patients is still not sufficiently effective. For example, specific anti-migraine agents (triptans) help control only two out of three attacks, and migraine prevention products are considered effective, if they reduce the frequency of attacks by 50% or more. The chronification of migraine attacks and the development of chronic daily headaches, occurring in 1% of patients per year,5 are a significant clinical problem. However, about 10% of migraine patients in the population and 40-60% of patients visiting specialized headache centers are resistant to standard therapy.6 Treatment of such patients is the most expensive.
Thus, searching for migraine biomarkers that confirm such diagnosis, instead of refuting other diagnoses, is the principal vector in this scientific field. In this review, we attempted to summarize the available information about studies aimed at searching for genetic markers of migraine.
Inheritance of migraine
Hereditary factors play an important role in the development of migraine.7 Relatives of such patients have migraine much more often than the population in general; if both parents have migraine, the risk that their offsprings will have this disease reaches 60-90% (vs. 11% in the control group), and the leading role belongs to the mother: in this case the risk of disease in children is 72%.
Long-term studies have demonstrated familial aggregation of migraine symptoms, and in some cases a positive family history (presence of the disease in family history) is a diagnostic criterion for migraine. Studies of monozygotic and dizygotic twins also demonstrated the presence of a significant genetic component in the development of migraine: in monozygotic twins with migraine, concordance value is 1.5-2 times higher than in dizygotic twins (for MWOA and MWA).8,9 A large study involving about 30,000 pairs of twins showed that genetics and environmental factors contribute almost equally to the development of migraine.10 Studies of twins who grew up together or separately showed that general environmental factors play a secondary role.11,12
Differences in migraine prevalence between populations also may serve as an indirect evidence of the genetic basis of migraine pathogenesis; such differences may be due to the differences in allele frequencies between populations. According to foreign researchers.13,14 the genetic component in migraine with aura is stronger than that in migraine without aura. Some authors define migraine as a polygenic multiple-factor disease.15,16 Currently, there is a belief that it is not the disease itself that is inherited, but rather a predisposition to respond to external stimuli of the nervous and vascular systems.
Monogenic migraine syndromes
This section presents rare neurological disorders, in which migraine attacks are a part of a broader clinical spectrum and can be regarded as a monogenic subtype of migraine. These subtypes may help identify and understand the pathophysiological mechanisms of migraine.
CADASIL-syndrome:(Cerebral Autosomal Dominant Arteriopathy with Subcortical Infarcts and Leukoencephalopathy) - a "cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy”, characterized by recurrent subcortical ischemic strokes with severe white matter hyperintensity, seizures, cognitive decline, depression and other psychoneurological symptoms. Migraine, in particular migraine with aura, is a characteristic peculiarity of more than a third of patients, which occurs at least one decade prior to other symptoms.17 CADASIL is caused by mutations in the NOTCH3 gene that encodes the NOTCH3 receptor and plays a key role in the functioning of smooth muscle cells that make up small arteries and arterioles in the brain.18 Mutations lead to dysfunction of the signaling pathway that regulates the development of vessels during embryogenesis and supports the structural/functional stability of blood vessels in adults.19,20 A specific feature of CADASIL is the accumulation of NOTCH3 receptor due to its slow elimination, which leads to the formation of granular osmiophilic deposits, and this affects small blood vessels and results in reduced cell adhesion and cell death, as well as in the transformation of smooth muscle cells in the middle layer and in fibrosis.21 Thus, CADASIL may be caused by vascular dysfunction, which results in the death of smooth muscle cells in the vessels and in the degeneration of the structure of vessels.
Mitochondrial encephalopathy, lactic acidosis, and stroke-like episodes (MELAS): This disease is caused by mutations in several mitochondrial genes, most frequently in the MTTL1 gene encoding the mitochondrial tRNA for leucine (nucleotide A to nucleotide G transition in position 3243), and is characterized by seizures, stroke-like episodes and lactic acidosis.22 A typical picture of MELAS includes seizures with neurovisual manifestations of cortical infarcts, which are often combined with migraine-like headaches; as well as hemiparesis, hemianopsia, cortical blindness, episodic vomiting, and short stature. Systemic manifestations may include cardiac, renal, endocrine or gastrointestinal disorders.23
Cerebral hereditary angiopathy with vascular retinopathy and internal organ dysfunction (CHARIOT):A progressive systemic disease of small blood vessels, which is caused by mutations in the TREX1 gene.24,25 The TREX1 gene is located in chromosome 3p21 and encodes human DNAase III (3' repair exonuclease) - an autonomous, non-processive 3'-5' DNA specific exonuclease.26 This enzyme is localized in the perinuclear area of the cell, which plays a fundamental role in granzyme A-mediated cell death and, when mutated, indirectly activates the autoimmune reaction against the undigested double-stranded DNA from dying cells.27 The main peculiarities of this disease include a progressive blindness due to vascular retinopathy; focal and cerebral neurological symptoms associated with cerebral edema and white matter lesions; and premature death. Additional symptoms, such as migraine and Raynaud's syndrome, are observed in more than a half of patients and occur almost ten years before other symptoms.25˗28
Patients with the familial advanced sleep-phase syndrome (FASPS) have serious disturbances of the sleep-wake cycle and other circadian rhythms. The disease is caused by missense mutations in the CSNK1D gene encoding Iδ (CK1δ) casein kinase that is involved in the phosphorylation of Per2 circadian rhythm protein.29˗31 In two independent families, CSNK1D mutations were observed in 9 of 11 patients with the familial advanced sleep-phase syndrome and migraine with aura.29 Screening of two families with migraine with aura and FASPS identified two missense mutations (c.44T> A and c.46H> R) in the CSNK1D gene, which lead decreased enzyme levels.30 Mice with T44A (Csnk1d) mutation a have lower threshold for cortical spreading depression, accompanied by increased spontaneous and induced activation of the calcium signaling pathway in astrocytes.29
COL4A1-related syndromes:The COL4A1 gene encodes alpha-1 subunit of type IV collagen. Mutations in this gene may lead to several autosomal dominant disorders with overlapping characteristics, including perinatal hemorrhage with porencephalia,32˗35 and small vessel disease, which result in hemorrhage and hemiparesis in childhood or adulthood.36 The association of COLA4A1 mutations with migraine is not quite reliable and may be a random discovery, despite the fact that 10 out of 52 COLA4A1 mutation carriers have confirmed migraines (with or without aura).35
Familial and sporadic hemiplegic migraine (FHM) ischaracterized by migraine attacks combined with transient unilateral motor weakness. Aura, headaches and associated symptoms are identical, and attacks can be caused by similar triggers; the same medicinal products are used for treatment and prevention. In 75% of FHM patients, hemiplegic episodes may alternate with migraine episodes without motor weakness. FHM and migraine are more common in women, and migraine rates increase among first-degree relatives. FHM patients may also have additional transient and persistent neurological disorders, such as ataxia, epilepsy, cognitive disorders or loss of consciousness.37
FHMs are genetically heterogeneous. 5 types of FHM are distinguished:
1) Type 1 FHM - missense mutations in the CACNA1Agene (50-75% of families).15,38
2) Type 2 FHM -mainly deletions and frameshift in the ATP1A2 gene (20% to 30% of cases).39
3) Type 3 FHM - mutations in the SCN1Agene on 2q24.40
4) Type 4 FHM - mutations in the CACNA1Egene on 1q25-q31.41
5) FHM induced by mutations in other genes: SLC1A3,42 SLC4A4,43 PRR2.44
Association studies
Approaches to studying candidate genes are widely used to study the genetics of migraine. Repeated studies were conducted for a significant number of genes, and those studies either confirmed or refuted the association. However, studies of candidate genes are interesting, as they can reveal the contribution of common genetic variants to the complex phenotype of specific ethnic groups, particularly genetic isolates. Candidate genes were previously grouped into four functional families of genes, namely, neurological, cardiovascular, hormonal and inflammatory genes.45
1) Ion channels. For example, genes encoding calcium (CACNA1A, CACNB2, CACNB4) or potassium (KCNAB3, KCNB2, KCNG4, KCNJ10, KCNK18, KCNN3) channels.
2) Subunits of Na+/K+ -ATPase,
3) Molecules involved in the synthesis, release and binding of neuropeptides (calcitonin gene-related peptide) or neurotransmitters (glutamate, GABA, dopamine, serotonin) connected with neuronal excitation and/or nociception.
Some case-control association studies gave positive results for the DBH, DDC, DRD2, DRD3, DRD4, GRIA1, GRIA3, HTR2, 5-HTTLPR, MAOA, SLC6A3, SLC6A4 and BDNFgenes, although the results of most studies were negative, especially for the first two gene families.46˗54 Nevertheless, careful screening of 150 genes expressed in the brain and involved in ion homeostasis (channels, transporters, antiporters and auxiliary subunits) made it possible to identify three potassium channel encoding genes associated with migraine, namely KCNK18, KCNG4 and KCNAB3.55 KCNK18 is particularly interesting in terms of its expression in the trigeminal and dorsal root ganglia, and its relationship with the MWA was detected also by analyzing the linkage groups.
Genome-wide association studies (GWAS)
To date, six GWAS have been conducted, which studied migraine:
Interestingly, these genes may simultaneously participate in glutamate homeostasis. In cultured astrocytes, MTDH (metadherin) suppresses the transcription of the EAAT2 gene that is main transporter of glutamate in astrocytes: this, in turn, causes an increase in glutamate concentrations in the synaptic cleft due to a delay in glutamate removal, thereby reducing the threshold for cortical spreading depression (CSD) that plays an important role in the pathophysiology of migraine.104,105 However, subsequent studies failed to confirm the association between the MTDH gene and migraine,106˗108 although its role in the development of clinical characteristics of migraine107 and in the pathogenesis of other types of headaches108 was demonstrated.
Thus, migraine-related GWAS and subsequent meta-analyses identified associated polymorphic variants of susceptibility genes, which can be grouped into five pathways:
Common variants demonstrated in several GWAS proved to be very valuable and underlined the glutamatergic role in the pathogenesis of migraine, with such role probably underlying cortical spreading depression and sensitization of nociceptive nerve endings.27 Despite the fact that GWAS have identified new candidate genes responsible for the pathogenesis of migraine, the results of these studies have not brought us closer to understanding its molecular and genetic bases.
Due to the fact that the polymorphic variants of genes apparently have no significant effect on the pathogenesis of migraine individually, but rather there is an integrated effect of a complex genotype on pathogenesis, it is difficult to determine the contribution of polymorphic variants of individual genes. For example, the protein encoded by the LRP1 gene associated with migraine is cleaved by metalloproteinase that is encoded by another candidate gene, MMP16.136 Also, for most genes their role in the disease development processes remains unclear, as their cellular processes are not linked with the currently available data on the pathogenesis of migraine: TGFBR2, PHACTR1, С7orf10, ADARB2, ZNF555, etc.
None.
No conflict.
©2017 Klimov, et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and build upon your work non-commercially.