These results therefore support a role for TRESK in the pathogenesis of typical migraine with aura and further support the role of this channel as a potential therapeutic target.
A role has been suggested for the two-pore domain (K2P) potassium channel, TWIK-related spinal cord potassium channel (TRESK, encoded by KCNK18), in pain pathways and general anaesthesia.
This review will elaborate on the possible role of the TRESK channel in regulating neuronal excitability, its role in migraine pathogenesis, and on promising therapeutic opportunities targeting this channel.
Recently, a mutation in the KCNK18 gene, encoding the TRESK two-pore domain potassium channel, was described in a large family with migraine with aura.
Additional evidence of a biological role of TRESK channels was provided by behavioral evidence of pain (flinching and licking), in vivo electrophysiological evidence of C-nociceptor activation following IBA injection in the rat hindpaw, and increased sensitivity to painful pressure after TRESK knockdown in vivo.
In situ hybridization studies of the mouse Kcnk18 ortholog show that it is developmentally expressed in the trigeminal and dorsal root ganglia, further supporting the involvement of this gene in migraine pathogenesis.
In this study, three common polymorphisms in the KCNK18 gene were analysed for genetic variation in an Australian case-control migraine population consisting of 340 migraine cases and 345 controls.
Sixty patients with migraine without aura (MO) or with different types of migraine with aura (MA), including sporadic hemiplegic, familial hemiplegic, and probable familial hemiplegic, were screened for mutations in the four genes previously linked with different types of migraine (ATP1A2, CACNA1A, SCN1A, and KCNK18).
Sixty patients with migraine without aura (MO) or with different types of migraine with aura (MA), including sporadic hemiplegic, familial hemiplegic, and probable familial hemiplegic, were screened for mutations in the four genes previously linked with different types of migraine (ATP1A2, CACNA1A, SCN1A, and KCNK18).
This review will focus on the genetics of migraine with particular emphasis placed on the potentially important role genes HEPH (responsible for iron transport and homeostasis) and KCNK18 (important for the transport and homeostasis of potassium) play in migraine cause.