Serotonin transporter gene polymorphism and migraine in the Korean population

Objective-To evaluate the association between a serotonin (5-HT) transporter gene polymorphism and migraines in Koreans. Background-The 5-HT metabolism is believed to play an important part in the pathophysiology of migraines, and a polymorphism of the serotonin transporter (5-HTT) promoter region might influence 5-HTT expression and serotonin uptake. Methods-This study compared 52 patients with migraine and 170 healthy control subjects in order to determine the association between a polymorphism of the 5-HTT gene-linked polymorphic region (5-HTTLPR) and migraine. Using PCR techniques, the products of the 484-base pair (bp) fragments were denoted as being short alleles (s) and those of 528 bp as being long (l). Results-The genotype distribution of the healthy controls was s/s (56.5%), s/l (38.2%), and l/l (5.3%) and that of the patients with migraine was 65.4%, 30.8%, and 3.8%, respectively. No significant differences were noted in the genotype and allele frequencies of 5-HTTLPR between the patients with migraine and the control subjects. Conclusions-A 5-HTTLPR polymorphism does not appear to be involved in the genetic predisposition to migraines.