In a large-scale plasma metabolome analysis, metabolic profiling of plasma yielded alterations in high-density lipoprotein (HDL) metabolism in patients with migraine and decreased omega-3 fatty acids only in male migraineurs, a new study found. Researchers sought to identify a plasma metabolomic biomarker signature for migraine. Plasma samples from 8 Dutch cohorts (n=10,153: 2800 migraine patients and 7353 controls) were profiled on a H-NMR-based metabolomics platform to quantify 146 individual metabolites and 79 metabolite ratios. Metabolite measures associated with migraine were obtained after single-metabolite logistic regression combined with random-effects meta-analysis performed in a nonstratified and sex-stratified manner. Among the findings:
- Decreases in the level of apolipoprotein A1 and free cholesterol total lipid ratio present in small HDL subspecies were associated with migraine status.
- A decreased level of omega-3 fatty acids was associated with migraine in male participants only.
- Global test analysis supported that HDL traits were associated with migraine status.
Onderwater GLJ, Ligthart L, Bot M, et al. Large-scale metabolome analysis reveals alterations in HDL metabolism in migraine. [Published online ahead of print April 3, 2019]. Neurology. doi:10.1212/WNL. 0000000000007313.