Science & Technology, Australia (Commonwealth Union) – Migraine is generally characterized by severe pain that can be accompanied by other symptoms. The key features of migraine are pain is usually severe and throbbing, and is often felt on one side of the head along with an aura, Sensitivity to light and Nausea and vomiting. Many of these symptoms however can be associated with other conditions. Migraines are more common in women than men, and can start at any age.
Scientists from the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) have discovered the genetic associations between headaches, migraines and blood sugar levels, that may pave the way for targeted treatments in patients.
Researchers found that the headache, migraine and blood sugar imbalance were noted to co-occur in sufferers and Genomes of 1000s of migraine patients showed culprit genes. Migraine and headache are said to share certain connections to blood sugar regulation, while migraine has many genes having risk factors.
The findings were published in Human Genetics, where QUT Professor Dale Nyholt and QUT PhD researcher Rafiqul Islam, define with the aid of large-scale genome-wide associations studies (GWAS) summary statistics to analyze extremely large amounts of human genomes from headache and migraine sufferers as well as non-sufferers.
GWAS involves comparing the genomes of individuals with a particular disease or trait to the genomes of individuals without the disease or trait to identify genetic variations that are more common in the affected group. These studies analyze large sets of genetic data from many individuals to identify genetic variations that are more common in the affected group.
GWAS has been used to identify genetic variants associated with a wide range of complex diseases and traits, including heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and mental health disorders. The results of GWAS studies can help researchers better understand the genetic basis of these conditions and develop more effective prevention and treatment strategies.
Professor Nyholt, from the QUT Centre for Genomics and Personalised Health, indicated that the co-occurrence of migraine and glycaemic traits were revealed in observational epidemiological studies but the way they were genetically associated was not known.
He further indicated that around 15% of the world’s population is impacted by migraine and it goes way back to 1935, where migraine had the definition of a ‘glycaemic headache’.
“Glycaemic traits such as insulin resistance, hyperinsulinemia (too much insulin), hypoglycaemia (low blood sugar level) and type 2 diabetes are associated with migraine and headache,” explained Professor Nyholt.
“By identifying genetic correlations and shared loci and genes in our analyses we have inferred causal association and thus confirmed and improved understanding of the relationship between migraine, headache and glycaemic traits.”
Mr Islam indicated that the researchers conducted cross-trait evaluations for estimating genetic correlation, identifying shared genomic regions, loci, genes, and pathways, followed by testing for causal relationships.
“Out of the nine glycaemic traits we looked at, we found a significant genetic correlation for fasting insulin (blood insulin level) and glycated haemoglobin with both migraine and headache, while two-hour glucose was genetically correlated only with migraine,” he said.
“We also found regions harbouring genetic risk factors shared between migraine and fasting insulin, fasting glucose, and glycated haemoglobin, and for headache, shared regions with glucose, fasting insulin, glycated haemoglobin, and fasting proinsulin.
“Further analyses produced evidence for a causal relationship between migraine and headache with multiple glycaemic traits.
“Our findings provide avenues to develop novel treatment strategies for managing glycaemic traits in migraine and headache patients, particularly increasing fasting proinsulin level to protect against headache.”
As migraine continues to heavily impact much of the worlds populations the new development will most certainly be welcomed by researchers as more specific information can provide greater insights into treatment options for many millions.
