Referenced in: none

Automatically associated channels: Cav2.1 , SK3

Title: A highly polymorphic poly-glutamine stretch in the potassium channel KCNN3 in migraine.

Authors: Rainald Mössner, Annette Weichselbaum, Martin Marziniak, Christine M Freitag, Klaus-Peter Lesch, Claudia Sommer, Jobst Meyer

Journal, date & volume: Headache, 2005 Feb , 45, 132-6

PubMed link: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15705118

Abstract
The present study is designed to further elucidate the molecular genetic basis of migraine with and without aura.Migraine is a common disease of as yet unknown etiology. Interest in ion channels in migraine has been spurred by molecular genetic findings in familial hemiplegic migraine, since familial hemiplegic migraine type 1 is caused by mutations in the calcium channel gene CACNA1A.Given this role of ion channels in migraine, we assessed the potassium channel KCNN3 as a candidate gene for common migraine. We analyzed the highly polymorphic repeat region coding for a poly-glutamine stretch, which constitutes part of the cytoplasmic tail of the channel protein.We found an excess of the allele coding for 15 poly-glutamines in migraine patients.The potassium channel KCNN3 may thus be of pathophysiological importance in migraine with and without aura.