Contribution of syntaxin 1A to the genetic susceptibility to migraine: A case-control association study in the Spanish population

Migraine is a common neurological disorder with a complex inheritance pattern. Mutations in genes encoding proteins that are involved in ion transport across the neuronal membrane have been linked to rare monogenic variants of migraine. These or other related genes and proteins are also candidates to be involved in the inherited predisposition to the more common forms of migraine without aura (MO) or migraine with aura (MA). One of these proteins, syntaxin 1 A, encoded by the STX1A gene, is a key molecule in ion channel regulation and synaptic exocytosis. We assessed the contribution of STX1A to migraine by analyzing three SNPs that cover the entire gene (rs6951030-rs941298-rs4363087), in a case-control association study in 210 migraine patients (102 MO, 86 MA, 22 hemiplegic migraine) and 210 sex-matched unrelated controls. The single-marker analysis revealed significant differences in both allele frequencies (P = 0.0087, OR = 1.48) and genotype distributions (P = 0.0133) of the rs941298 SNP between migraineurs and controls, with an overrepresentation of T-allele carriers in the migraine sample (OR = 1.78). We subsequently performed a haplotype-based analysis and observed evidence of an overrepresentation of the A-T-G (rs6951030-rs941298-rs4363087) allelic combination in migraine patients and an increased frequency of carriers of this risk haplotype (P = 0.008, OR = 1.71). These differences remained significant when patients were subdivided into MO and MA. When the control series was enlarged for rs941298, we confirmed the association only with the whole migraine group. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.