They discover a new mechanism that causes migraines

[Inkriql]

Researchers from the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS, for its acronym in French); 'Université Côte d'Azur' and the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm, for its acronym in French), all of them in France, have discovered a new mechanism related to the onset of migraine.

Specifically, they detected how a mutation causes a dysfunction in a protein that inhibits neuronal electrical activity and induces migraines. These results, published on Monday in 'Neuron', open a new way for the development of drugs against migraine.

Despite the fact that 15 percent of the adult po[CENSORED]tion worldwide suffer from migraines, no effective long-term curative treatment has been commercialized to date. Migraine episodes are related, among other factors, to electrical hyperexcitability in sensory neurons. Its electrical activity is controlled by proteins that generate a current called ion channels, specifically by the TRESK channel, which inhibits electrical activity.

Scientists have shown that a mutation in the gene that encodes this protein causes a split between two dysfunctional proteins: one is inactive and the other is directed to other ion channels (K2P2.1) that induce a large stimulation of the neuronal electrical activity that causes migraines.

Although researchers had already demonstrated the hereditary nature of migraines, they did not know the mechanism underlying migraine. By demonstrating that the TRESK division induces hyperexcitability in the sensory neurons that lead to migraine, this work, carried out at the Valrose Institute of Biology (CNRS / Inserm / Université Côte d'Azur), opens a new research path for the development of medications against migraine.

A patent application has been filed: the objective is to address the K2P2.1 channels to reduce the electrical activity of the neurons and prevent migraines from being triggered. In addition, the authors propose that this new genetic mechanism, which causes the formation of two proteins instead of just one, should now be considered to analyze other genetic diseases and to diagnose them.