Relationship of MTHFR and ACE Gene Variations With Migraine Susceptibility: A Case-Control Study in the Population of North India (Jammu)

Disturbance in vascular functioning pathways has been related to pathophysiology of migraine. The present study investigated the role of MTHFR C677T and ACE I/D gene polymorphisms in migraine susceptibility within the population of Jammu province of J&K state. A sum of 252 subjects including 102 migraine patients and 150 non-migrainous unrelated healthy controls were enrolled for the present study. PCR-RFLP was performed for determining MTHFR gene variations. For detecting insertion/deletion in ACE gene PCR was performed. In case of MTHFR, ‘T’ allele (variant allele) and TT genotype (variant) was found to be present only in migraine patients but not in controls thereby suggesting its positive role in migraine pathophysiology. For ACE I/D polymorphism, higher frequency of DD genotype (32.35 % vs 15.3 %) and D allele (0.51 vs 0.4) were observed in patients than in controls. Logistic regression analysis revealed a significant association of ACE I/D polymorphism with risk of migraine. However, a direct link of MTHFR C677T polymorphism with migraine risk was not found.