Association of MTHFR C677T Polymorphism with Susceptibility to Migraine in the Chinese population

• We investigated the relationship between migraine and gene polymorphism.
• T allele of the MTHFR C677T variant is a risk allele for Chinese migraine, especially for migraine without aura.
• ACE I/D, MAOA T941G, and TNF-β G252A may not be a genetic risk factor.

A number of genes have been implicated in the pathogenesis of migraine, a common neurological disorder also in China. However, data on association of genetic variations with migraine susceptibility among Chinese, which might be different from people of other ethnic background, are still scarce. We have therefore investigated the association of polymorphisms in four genes, MTHFR C677T, ACE I/D, MAOA T941G and TNF-β G252A, which are considered to be with risk of migraine. A case–control study including a cohort of 151 migraine cases and 137 ethnically matched controls was conducted. The genotypes of each polymorphism followed the Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium in the two groups. Genotypic distribution of MTHFR C677T was significantly different with higher frequency of allele T in the migraine cohort as compared with that in controls (OR = 1.686, 95%CI: 1.175–2.420, P = 0.004). No difference was found between migraine with aura (MA) patients and controls, but T allele frequency was significantly higher in migraine without aura (MO) than in controls (OR = 1.744, 95% CI: 1.202–2.532, P = 0.003). No difference in genotypic and allelic distributions was observed between migraine patients and controls for the other polymorphisms, including ACE I/D, MAOA T941G, and TNF-β G252A. Our data suggested that MTHFR C677T polymorphism plays a role in Chinese migraine susceptibility, especially in MO.