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A new study suggests that migraines are mostly caused by problems with the blood supply system, and the findings could help inform future research and treatments for the disorder.
The research, published by the International Headache Genetics Consortium (IHGC), could help resolve a question doctors have long wrestled with: whether migraines are primarily a vascular (related to blood supply) or neurological (related to the nervous system) problem.
While these genes are only newly associated with migraines, they have also been linked to vascular disease, smooth muscle contraction, regulation of vascular tone, and arterial functioning. The finding suggest vascular and muscle problems play a large role in migraines.
“In this latest, large-scale study, tens of new genetic risk factors were discovered,” said the leader of the IHGC, Aarno Palotie. “Because all of these variants modify the disease risk only slightly, the effect could only be seen when this large amount of samples became available.”
“These genetic findings are the first concrete step towards developing personalised, evidence-based treatments for this very complex disease,” added another of the team, John-Anker Zwart from the Oslo University Hospital in Norway. “We doctors have known for a long time that migraine patients differ from each other and the drugs that work for some patients are completely inefficient for others.”
Read More – Source: Researchers think they’ve finally figured out what causes migraines – ScienceAlert