• Timea Aczél, Tamás Körtési, József Kun, Péter Urbán, Witold Bauer, Róbert Herczeg, Róbert Farkas, Krisztián Kovács, Barna Vásárhelyi, Gellért B Karvaly, Attila Gyenesei, Bernadett Tuka, János Tajti, László Vécsei, Kata Bölcskei, and Zsuzsanna Helyes.
• Department of Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapy, Molecular Pharmacology Research Group and Centre for Neuroscience, University of Pécs Szentágothai Research Centre, University of Pécs Medical School, Szigeti út 12, Pécs, H-7624, Hungary.
• J Headache Pain. 2021 Oct 6; 22 (1): 117117.

BackgroundRecent data suggest that gene expression profiles of peripheral white blood cells can reflect changes in the brain. We aimed to analyze the transcriptome of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) and changes of plasma metabolite levels of migraineurs in a self-controlled manner during and between attacks.MethodsTwenty-four patients with migraine were recruited and blood samples were collected in a headache-free (interictal) period and during headache (ictal) to investigate disease- and headache-specific alterations. Control samples were collected from 13 age- and sex-matched healthy volunteers. RNA was isolated from PBMCs and single-end 75 bp RNA sequencing was performed using Illumina NextSeq 550 instrument followed by gene-level differential expression analysis. Functional analysis was carried out on information related to the role of genes, such as signaling pathways and biological processes. Plasma metabolomic measurement was performed with the Biocrates MxP Quant 500 Kit.ResultsWe identified 144 differentially-expressed genes in PBMCs between headache and headache-free samples and 163 between symptom-free patients and controls. Network analysis revealed that enriched pathways included inflammation, cytokine activity and mitochondrial dysfunction in both headache and headache-free samples compared to controls. Plasma lactate, succinate and methionine sulfoxide levels were higher in migraineurs while spermine, spermidine and aconitate were decreased during attacks.ConclusionsIt is concluded that enhanced inflammatory and immune cell activity, and oxidative stress can play a role in migraine susceptibility and headache generation.© 2021. The Author(s).

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