Association of the long pentraxin PTX3 gene polymorphism (rs3816527) with migraine in an Iranian population

Background: Migraine is a common neurovascular disorder with multifactorial and polygenic inheritance. It has been shown that migraine may be a form of sterile neurogenic inflammation. Pentaxins 3 (PTX3) has been detected in brain during inflammatory responses. The aim of our study was to investigate the association of rs3816527 polymorphism of the PTX3 gene and migraine in an Iranian population. Method: We included 103 newly diagnosed migraine patients and 148 healthy subjects as control group. Genomic DNA samples extracted from the peripheral blood and genotypes of PTX3 rs3816527 gene polymorphism were determined. The patients filled out HIT-6 questionnaire as a scale to evaluate the severity of headache. Results: The genotype frequency of PTX3 was significantly different between the migraine patients and the control subjects. CC variant homozygote genotype was statistically more frequent in the patients than in the controls (P <0.05; OR = 1.74, 95% CI = 1.04-2.94). Also the C allele was not significantly more frequent in the patients (P = 0.096; OR = 1.27,95% CI = 0.88-1.85). A separate analysis in male and female subjects showed no significant differences between the different genotypes and phenotypes of PTX3 rs3816527 gene and susceptibility to migraine in female subjects. Total HIT-6 score was significantly different between three PTX3 genotypes (P = 0.008). Conclusion: In conclusion our results showed the association between the PTX3 rs3816527 gene polymorphism with susceptibility to migraine only in the male patients. Also total HIT-6 scores as a scale for assessment of the severity were related to the PTX3 rs3816527 gene polymorphism. But this relation was not established by headache frequency. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All tights reserved.