Genes of the immune system The association between pain and inflammation has led physicians to suspect a connection between immunological mechanisms and headache syndromes for many years. Several immunological abnormalities, such as changes in serum levels of complement and immunoglobulins or increased TNF-α, have been described in body fluids of patients with migraine and may be related to susceptibility to increased infection.30 Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical The cause for this increased susceptibility is unclear, but was discussed as a result of chronic stress, a well-known suppressor of the immune system. Stress relief enhances immune

activity and triggers a burst of circulating vasoactive neuropeptides (such as substance P or neurokinin A), which function as mediators of inflammation and potential precipitators of a migraine

attack in vulnerable subjects.30 It is well known that the production of cytokines is also regulated by genes,31 which might in Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical turn have implications on the age of onset of several disorders as rheumatoid arthritis32 or Alzheimer’s disease.33 A recent observation indicated that migraine patients with aura who are carrying the T/T genotype of the interleukin-la C889T polymorphism Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical have about 10 years earlier age of onset of their migraine attacks. This supports the hypothesis of a genetically driven sterile inflammation as one etiological factor.34 Moreover, an association was found for the cytokines produced by TNF genes Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical with the TNFβ2 allele, but only in migraine sufferers without aura.35 These findings support the assumption that the abnormalities in immunological parameters are not only a consequence of the headache attacks, as has been repeatedly hypothesized, but

can also modify the clinical course and the phenotypic expression of the disease. Fibromyalgia FM is a syndrome characterized by chronic widespread, persistent pain associated with increased tenderness to palpation due to lowering of the mechanical pain threshold and additional symptoms such as stiffness, fatigue, and psychological distress.36 Several additional clinical features of FM, including depression, 2-Methoxyestradiol ic50 anxiety, and Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical sleep disturbances, as well as the fact that it runs in families and shows an increased familial learn more loading with depressive disorders, have even lead to the suggestion that FM might be a “depressive spectrum disorder.”37 This assumption was further supported by positive therapeutic response to antidepressant drugs, as well as by the fact that pain perception threshold was found to be decreased during depression,38 which was considered as being attributable to dysfunction in several neurotransmitter systems.39 The etiology of FM is unknown, but a possible contribution of 5-HT has been suggested on the basis of multiple biological findings, as for example, low levels of serum 5mfjT40 and low 5-hydroxyindole acetic acid (5-HIAA) levels in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of idiopathic pain patients.