Investigators led by Northwestern Medicine scientists have identified mutations in a gene coding for a key ion channel in the brain as a new cause of a debilitating form of migraine, according to a study published in Brain. Familial hemiplegic migraine (FHM), a rare and severe form of migraine, is marked by temporary paralysis or weakness on one side of the body during attacks. Although the disorder runs in families, known migraine-linked genes explain fewer than one in five genetically diagnosed cases, said Alfred L. George, Jr., MD, chair and the Alfred Newton Richards Professor of Pharmacology, who was co-corresponding author of the study.
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