Plasma SuPAR and therapeutic response to erenumab in migraine: a REFORM study

Soluble urokinase-plasminogen activator receptor (suPAR) is a biomarker of systemic inflammation and elevated in plasma of individuals with migraine with aura. As inflammatory cytokines can upregulate calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), suPAR levels might be linked to response to CGRP-targeting therapies. Therefore, we investigated whether plasma suPAR levels are associated with response to the CGRP-receptor antagonist erenumab.

In this single-center, prospective study, adults with ≥ 4 monthly migraine days received 140 mg erenumab subcutaneously every 4 weeks for 24 weeks. Blood samples were collected at baseline, Week 24 (end of treatment), and Week 48 (24 weeks post-treatment). Responders were defined as achieving a ≥ 50% reduction in monthly migraine days from baseline to weeks 13-24. Associations between baseline suPAR and treatment response were analyzed using logistic and linear regression. Longitudinal changes in suPAR were assessed using linear mixed models.

The study included 623 participants with migraine (mean age 44.1 ± 12.3 years; 90.4% female) and 154 healthy controls. Among participants, 183 (29.4%) had migraine with aura, and 406 (65.2%) had chronic migraine. Baseline plasma suPAR levels were not associated with response to erenumab in the total migraine population (odds ratio [OR] 0.83, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.64 to 1.07; p = 0.14) or in the aura subgroup (OR 0.73, 95% CI 0.48 to 1.10; p = 0.14). Plasma suPAR levels were significantly higher in non-responders compared to responders at Week 48 (7.5% higher, 95% CI 3.3 to 11.5%; p = 0.005). Non-responders with aura had higher suPAR concentrations than controls at baseline (difference 10.1%; 95% CI 3.0 to 17.8%; p = 0.023) and Week 24 (8.7%; 95% CI 1.6 to 16.2%; p = 0.047). These differences persisted at Week 48 (12.4%; 95% CI 4.6 to 20.7%; p = 0.013). No longitudinal changes in suPAR concentrations were observed.

We did not find an association between baseline plasma suPAR levels and response to erenumab. Plasma suPAR concentrations remained stable, even among participants with aura. These findings suggest that systemic low-grade inflammation, as measured by suPAR, does not influence treatment efficacy.

Pre-registered on ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT04603976 and NCT04674020).