Association between migraine and ACE gene (insertion/deletion) polymorphism: The BioBIM study

Aim: In the present case–control study, we investigated the correlation between the common ACE insertion/deletion (I/D) polymorphism and migraine. Materials & methods: Genotyping of the ACE I/D variant was performed in 502 Caucasian patients with migraine and 323 age-, sex- and race/ethnicitymatched healthy controls. We investigated associations between ACE genetic variants and sociodemographic and/or clinical features of migraineurs. Results: We found a significant association between ACE insertion/insertion (I/I) polymorphism and lower use of pharmacological prophylaxis in migraine patients with aura and in those with chronic migraine. Moreover, ACE I/I polymorphism was significantly more common in migraine patients with aura who had a negative family history of migraine. Conclusion: Our data suggest that although the ACE I/D polymorphism is not a direct risk factor for migraine, the ACE I/I genotype may influence the clinical feature of this disease being associated with reduced use of prophylactic agents in patients with migraine with aura and in those with chronic migraine.