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        Cluster Headache Help and Support >> Cluster Headache Specific >> Question about genetics
        
(Message started by: starlight on Jun 11^th, 2007, 2:37pm)

Title: Question about genetics
Post by starlight on Jun 11^th, 2007, 2:37pm

What is the general consensus--are these headaches considered to have genetic link--is it a strong link, weak link or no link? Just wondering if anyone knows. Don't feel up to googling right now. Figured people on here would know. Thanks. Star

Title: Re: Question about genetics
Post by BarbaraD on Jun 11^th, 2007, 2:50pm

This has been brought up a few times and I don't think we've ever come up with a genetic link. A few on here have kids or parents who suffer with CH, but most of us don't.

someone will be along to give you stats, but I don't think there's a link.

Hugs BD

Title: Re: Question about genetics
Post by Barry_T_Coles on Jun 11^th, 2007, 6:53pm

Like Barb I don’t remember that we came up with a definitive answer to this when discussed before.

A couple of examples:
I’m one of 8 in my family & the only sufferer; my mate who I grew up with & still see often is from a family of 6 & is the only sufferer, my sister in law is from a herd of 12 and again is the only one to get it but then we have here our Helen & Jasper both sufferers.
There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason.

Cheers
Barry

Title: Re: Question about genetics
Post by LindsayLoo on Jun 11^th, 2007, 6:58pm

I don't know. My Neurologist said they weren't hereditary though.

I am the only sufferer in my family however, my dad and 2 sisters suffer from horrible Migraines. I have had maybe 2 migraines in my life but those were after head trauma.

Title: Re: Question about genetics
Post by Kevin_M on Jun 11^th, 2007, 7:13pm

on 06/11/07 at 14:37:20, starlight wrote:

are these headaches considered to have genetic link

Through the air, the doctor speaking at the Nashville OUCH convention mentioned about 8.5%.

Title: Re: Question about genetics
Post by Redd on Jun 11^th, 2007, 7:20pm

It's more than double that if both parents suffer, however.

Title: Re: Question about genetics
Post by LeLimey on Jun 11^th, 2007, 7:46pm

GENETICS
Professor R Trembath
RM33068
Vacation Studentship - SNP detection and variation for haplotype sharing in Cluster Headache
£1,240 Wellcome Trust
Cluster Headache (CH) is a distinct form of primary headache characterised by specific autonomic features and periodicity. The aetiology of CH remains unclear, however, numerous familial examples of the disorder have been described. More formal segregation analysis supports the view that CH susceptibility may be conferred as an autosomal dominant trait, the disease allele activing with markedly reduced gene penetrance. In collaboration with Dr Michael Russell (University of Copenhagen) we have performed a genome wide (>400 marker density) scan, in eight multiplex families with CH and identified 7 regions with non-parametric LOD scores of 1.5 or greater. No family was large enough to generate a score of 3.3 on its own. To further explore these intervals we next investigated the allelic frequency distribution between an independently ascertained cohort of CH cases and matched controls also recruited from Denmark. Three contiguous polymorphic mircrosatellite markers (distributed over a genetic interval of 2cM) showed significant support (p<0.001) for allelic association (Joy et al, manuscript in preparation). The objectives are to perform bioinformatic analysis of known and putative transcripts within the region demonstrating allelic association and to identify and validate single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within positional candidate genes for CH.
September 2003

Title: Re: Question about genetics
Post by LeLimey on Jun 11^th, 2007, 7:47pm

A genome-wide scan and HCRTR2 candidate gene analysis in a European cluster headache cohort
L. Baumber, BSc, C. Sjöstrand, MD, M. Leone, MD, H. Harty, BSc, G. Bussone, MD, J. Hillert, MD, PhD, R. C. Trembath, BSc, FRCP and M. B. Russell, MD, PhD, DMSci
From the Division of Medical Genetics (L.B., H.H., R.C.T.), University of Leicester, UK; Department of Neurology (C.S., J.H.), Karolinska Institute, Karolinska University Hospital, Huddinge, Sweden; Carlo Besta National Neurological Institute (M.L., G.B.), Milan, Italy; Head and Neck Research Group, Akershus University Hospital, and Faculty Division, Akershus University Hospital (M.B.R.), University of Oslo, Norway; and Division of Medical & Molecular Genetics (L.B., R.C.T.), King’s College London (Guy’s Campus), Guy’s Hospital, London, UK.

Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Richard C. Trembath, Professor of Medical Genetics, Division of Medical & Molecular Genetics, King’s College London Medical School (Guy’s Campus), Floor 7, Guy’s Tower, Guy’s Hospital, London SE1 9RT, UK; e-mail: richard.trembath@genetics.kcl.ac.uk

Objective: To investigate the molecular genetic basis of cluster headache (CH), using a genome-wide scan and candidate gene strategy.

Methods: Northern European CH families and a case-control cohort of Danish, Swedish, and British origin (total n = 259 sporadic CH patients), including 267 control subjects matched for ancestry, participated in the study. A genome-wide genetic screen using approximately 400 microsatellite markers was performed for five informative Danish CH families. Additional markers were typed for those loci generating statistical evidence suggestive of linkage, together with genotypes for 111 individuals from further Danish and Italian kindreds. Sporadic CH patients and controls were investigated by association analysis for variation in the candidate gene, HCRTR2. Finally, complete HCRTR2 sequencing was undertaken for eight independent probands.

Results: Potential linkage was identified at four possible disease loci in Danish kindreds, yet no single chromosome location generated a lod or NPL score of recognized significance. No deleterious sequence variants of the HCRTR2 gene were detected by comparison to wild-type sequence. Association of the HCRTR2 gene was not replicated in this large dataset, even when the data were stratified into distinct populations.

Conclusions: Cluster headache is a complex genetic disorder, with possible phenotypic and genetic heterogeneity compounding attempts at gene identification

http://www.neurology.org/cgi/content/abstract/66/12/1888

Title: Re: Question about genetics
Post by LeLimey on Jun 11^th, 2007, 7:49pm

Cluster headache is associated with the G1246A polymorphism in the hypocretin receptor 2 gene
M. Schürks, MD, T. Kurth, MD, ScD, I. Geissler, G. Tessmann, H. -C. Diener, MD and D. Rosskopf, MD
From the Department of Neurology (M.S., H.-C.D.), University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany; Divisions of Preventive Medicine and Aging (T.K.), Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA; and Institute of Pharmacology (I.G., G.T., D.R.), Peter Holtz Research Center of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, University Hospital, Ernst-Moritz Arndt University, Greifswald, Germany.

Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Markus Schürks, Department of Neurology, University Hospital Essen, Hufelandstrasse 55, 45122 Essen, Germany; e-mail: schuerks@hotmail.com.

The G1246A polymorphism in the gene of the hypocretin receptor 2 (HCRTR2) has been linked to the risk for cluster headache (CH). The authors examined this association in a large sample of 226 patients with CH and 266 controls from Germany. The genotype and allele distribution varied significantly between patients and controls. Homozygous carriers of the G-allele had a twofold increase in risk for CH (OR 1.97; 95% CI 1.32 to 2.92; p = 0.0007).

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This article was previously published in electronic format as an Expedited E-Pub on March 22, 2006, at www.neurology.org.

Supported by "Cluster-Kopfschmerz Selbsthilfe Gruppen Deutschland" (CSG).

Disclosure: The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Received August 1, 2005. Accepted in final form January 18, 2006.

http://www.neurology.org/cgi/content/abstract/66/12/1917

there you go - and in less than five minutes searching

Title: Re: Question about genetics
Post by Ray on Jun 11^th, 2007, 10:10pm

Hello Everyone:

More anecdotal evidence: My sister suffers from episodic cluster headaches more than 20 years now. My brother never complains of any headaches of any kind. Go figure....

Wishing you PF days and nights,

Ray

Title: Re: Question about genetics
Post by eyes_afire on Jun 11^th, 2007, 10:17pm

No general consensus, but if I had to make an educated guess I'd say there's probably a genetic link, but its not necessarily hereditary. Meaning that there's probably some defect or mutation in a gene but it will not necessarily be expressed in the family tree.

--- Steve

Title: Re: Question about genetics
Post by ClusterChuck on Jun 11^th, 2007, 10:41pm

on 06/11/07 at 14:37:20, starlight wrote:

What is the general consensus--

on 06/11/07 at 22:17:52, eyes_afire wrote:

No general consensus,

LOL a pet pieve of mine!!! Fingernails on a blackboard ....

"general" used with "consensus" is redundant. Should NEVER be used together.

From Merriam-Webster Online:
QUOTE
Main Entry: con·sen·sus
Pronunciation: k&n-'sen(t)-s&s
Function: noun
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Latin, from consentire
1 a : general agreement : UNANIMITY <the consensus of their opinion, based on reports...from the border -- John Hersey> b : the judgment arrived at by most of those concerned <the consensus was to go ahead>
2 : group solidarity in sentiment and belief
usage The phrase consensus of opinion, which is not actually redundant (see sense 1a; the sense that takes the phrase is slightly older), has been so often claimed to be a redundancy that many writers avoid it. You are safe in using consensus alone when it is clear you mean consensus of opinion, and most writers in fact do so.

UNQUOTE

Now to the question at hand:

The consensus is that there are VERY few chances of genetic links.

Chuck

Title: Re: Question about genetics
Post by Guiseppi on Jun 11^th, 2007, 10:57pm

I'm one of 14 kids......and I am the only one who drew the short straw!!!

Guiseppi

Title: Re: Question about genetics
Post by Wayne on Jun 12^th, 2007, 4:45am

I wonder if ther's not some other form of link that just chooses to manifest itself as CH in some people. My brother is an epileptic, I am a clusterhead and we both developed the symptoms at around the same age (36)

Title: Re: Question about genetics
Post by michael on Jun 12^th, 2007, 5:55am

My sister is six years older than me and says she has never had a headache in her life that she can remember.

Mike

Title: Re: Question about genetics
Post by kcopelin on Jun 12^th, 2007, 10:42am

As a mom I fervently pray that this is not hereditary. My paternal grandfather had "bad" headaches, but no one knows if they were clusters. None of my three children have CH, though my daughter does have occasional headaches-stress or hormonal. Until my CH started, a quarter of a century ago, I never had a headache. I WAS a headache-but only those around me suffered. ::)

And the search goes on...
PFDAN y'all
kathy