Referenced in: none

Automatically associated channels: Cav2.1

Title: Genetic analysis of 27 Spanish patients with hemiplegic migraine, basilar-type migraine and childhood periodic syndromes.

Authors: E Cuenca-León, R Corominas, N Fernàndez-Castillo, V Volpini, M Del Toro, M Roig, A Macaya, B Cormand

Journal, date & volume: Cephalalgia, 2008 Oct , 28, 1039-47

PubMed link: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18644040

Abstract
Familial hemiplegic migraine (FHM) is a rare type of migraine with aura. Mutations in three genes have been described in FHM patients: CACNA1A (FHM1), ATP1A2 (FHM2) and SCN1A (FHM3). We screened 27 Spanish patients with hemiplegic migraine (HM), basilar-type migraine or childhood periodic syndromes (CPS) for mutations in these three genes. Two novel CACNA1A variants, p.Val581Met and p.Tyr1245Cys, and a previously annotated change, p.Cys1534Ser, were identified in individuals with HM, although they have not yet been proven to be pathogenic. Interestingly, p.Tyr1245Cys was detected in a patient displaying a changing, age-specific phenotype that began as benign paroxysmal torticollis of infancy, evolving into benign paroxysmal vertigo of childhood and later becoming HM. This is the first instance of a specific non-synonymous base change being described in a subject affected with CPS. The fact that the molecular screen identified non-synonymous changes in < 15% of our HM patients further stresses the genetic heterogeneity underlying the presumably monogenic forms of migraine.