The impact of pharmacogenetics for migraine

Migraine is a paroxysmal neurological disorder affecting up to 12% of males and 24% of females in the general population. As migraine has been demonst rated to have a strong, but complex, genetic component, pharmacogenetics be ars great promise in providing new targets for drug development and optimiz ation of individual specific therapy. Better, preferably prophylactic. trea tment of migraine patients is desired because the drugs now used are not ef fective in all patients, allow recurrence of the headache in a high percent age of patients and sometimes have severe adverse side-effects. With the re cent identification of the brain-specific P/Q-type Ca2+-channel gene CACNA1 A as a pivotal player in the pathogenesis of migraine, the first step has b een taken to identify primary biochemical pathways leading to migraine. The work on migraine can also have implications for the increasing number of a dditional neurological episodic disorders having the common denominator of channelopathy. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.