Over the last few years, news articles have declared that researchers have found the migraine gene. That’s not exactly true. Multiple genes are thought to be involved with migraine and all its variations. Several chromosomal regions for migraine have been identified, but only one true gene has been found – and that’s for the familial form of hemiplegic migraine. The “familial” part means that a close relative of someone with hemiplegic migraine also has hemiplegic migraine.
Although it’s not detailed, the abstract of Migraine Genetics: An Update is an overview. The full article appears in the June issue of Current Pain and Headache Reports.
Genetics of Migraine, a previous post on The Daily Headache, provides a less scientific overview.
Thanks for this post! I have to admit, some of the news stories that have been coming out the last few months have been driving me crazy. Ok, what else is new? 🙂
But I specifically mean the ones about “migraine genes”. You’d think we’ve all been cured 3 times from the way they’re talking! 🙂