Migraine Research

Millions of people worldwide suffer from migraine. This is a very serious disease that affects the nervous system of the body and causes nausea and vomiting as well as attacks of painful headache. At present, the accurate diagnosis of migraine is difficult and current drug treatments only seem to be effective in some patients. It is well known that migraine is caused partly be defective genes, but the number and types of genes responsible is still not clearly understood. For many years, we at the Genomics Research Centre (GRC) have been investigating the genetics of migraine. In particular, our research has focused on discovering defective genes that may increase a persons risk of having a migraine attack.

To assist us in identifying these migraine genes we have been studying large Australian families suffering from the disease. Families are a great resource for genetic disease studies since they allow the inheritance of genetic defects to be easily observed through the generations. In conjunction with current DNA technologies the actual position of the disease gene can often be determined. To date, we at the GRC have been successful in uncovering THREE different genetic regions on chromosomes 1, 19 and X. These regions harbour genes which increase susceptibility to migraine and, whilst research into these migraine genes is ongoing, our results to date provide some very valuable insights into the genetic cause of migraine. Our findings are the important first steps to devising better diagnostic techniques for physicians. This will ultimately allow for more effective therapeutics to be developed to treat patients suffering from this severe disease.

Rod Lea