Identifying genetic variants for age of migraine onset in a Han Chinese population in Taiwan

Background: Considering the involvement of genetics in migraine pathogenesis in diverse ethnic populations, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) are being conducted to identify migraine-susceptibility genes. However, limited surveys have focused on the onset age of migraine (AoM) in Asians. Therefore, in this study, we aimed to identify the susceptibility loci of migraine considering the AoM in an Asian population. Methods: We conducted a GWAS in 715 patients with migraine of Han Chinese ethnicity, residing in Taiwan, to identify the susceptibility genes associated with AoM. Based on our standard demographic questionnaire, the population was grouped into different subsets. Single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) associations were examined using PLINK in different AoM onset groups. Results: We discovered eight novel susceptibility loci correlated with AoM that reached the GWAS significance level in the Han Chinese population. First, rs146094041 in ESRRG was associated with AoM <= 12 years. The other SNPs including rs77630941 in CUX1, rs146778855 in CDH18, rs117608715 in NOL3, rs150592309 in PRAP1, and rs181024055 in NRAP were associated with the later AoM. Conclusions: To our knowledge, this is the first GWAS to investigate the AoM in an Asian Han Chinese population. Our newly discovered susceptibility genes may have prospective associations with migraine pathogenesis.