A conjoint analysis of epilepsy and migraine through network-and-pathway-based method

Epilepsy and migraine are both considered as paroxysmal neurologic disorders. Previous studies have reported some cases with comorbidity of these two diseases. As the underlying molecular mechanism remains unclear, we performed a network-and-pathway-based method with candidate gene sets of epilepsy and migraine to explore it.

: Comparing the candidate genes between epilepsy and migraine, we identified 21 common genes. Functional enrichment analysis indicated that epilepsy and migraine are dysfunctional in the similar biological processes, such as glutamatergic transmissions, channel activities, and transporter activities. We also explored many shared pathways between these two diseases such as neuroactive ligand-receptor interaction.

By combining systematical analysis and previous studies review, we finally identified six essential genes associated with the comorbidity of epilepsy and migraine.

This is the first time to address the common ground of epilepsy and migraine by a systematic biology method. The present study provides a novel way to explain the potential mechanisms of these two diseases and a new set of therapeutic targets.