Genomic Associations in Migraine Study to be Presented at the 7th Annual Pain Therapeutics Summit

MINNEAPOLIS - June 24, 2013 - PRLog -- Verneri Anttila, MD, Ph.D., Post-doctoral Research Fellow, Analytic and Translational Genetics Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital, Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Harvard Medical School; one of the researchers behind a meta-analysis of 30 genome-wide association studies, totaling some 40,000 migraine sufferers and 170,000 population-matched controls of will present his findings on at The 7th Annual Pain and Migraine Therapeutics Summit in Boston, MA on September 25 & 26, 2013. (www.paintherapeuticsummiteast.com)

In this presentation: What Can the First 210,000 Analyzed Genomes Tell Us About Migraine?  Dr. Anttila will describe the study. He will also discuss some hints about the pathophysiology for migraine that arises from the results, as well as insights into the differences between clinical vs. population cases and migraine with and without aura.
Migraine is one of the most common types pain, affecting approximately one in six women and one in twelve men. Because of the seemingly mysterious nature of migraines it rivals diabetes as one of the most costly disorders in the United States and Europe.

Up to two thirds of people with migraines have them without aura, the physical or sensory precursor to migraine onset. Researchers have discovered four gene variations that increase susceptibility to migraine without aura and the components of those with the genetic predisposition are both neural and vascular. The genetic variations that produced disturbances to the transport of biological molecules across the nervous system seemed to be a crucial component of migraine predisposition while two of the gene variations are also linked to such vascular disorders as coronary heart disease.

Pain research and pain drug development are the focus of the 7th Annual Pain and Migraine Therapeutics Summit. The west coast event will be held on November 7 & 8, 2013 at the Embassy Suites San Diego Bay in San Diego, CA. (www.paintherapeuticsummit.com).