title: Evaluation of serum transforming growth factor β1 and C-reactive protein levels in migraine patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Migraine is a frequent form of head-ache. Although many mechanisms describing onset of migraine with and without visual aura have been suggested, the aetiology of migraine headaches is still not clear. Neurogenic inflammation may play a key role in the development of migraine headaches. We evaluated the discriminative power of serum levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) and transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGF-β1) in patients who presented to our clinic with migraine headaches with or without visual aura.
  
  
  METHODS
  We designed a prospective case-control study of 51 patients with migraine (27 with migraine with aura and 24 with migraine without aura; all had headache) and compared them with 27 healthy subjects during the study period. Demographic and clinical characteristics recorded were age, sex, marital status, occupation, characteristics of headache, laboratory values, and serum CRP and TGF-β1 levels. Statistical analyses used Student t-test, the χ2 test, and ANOVA followed by the post-hoc Bonferroni test for multiple comparisons. Receiver operator characteristic (ROC)-curve analysis for CRP and TGF-β1 was also conducted.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was no difference between the groups in terms of demographic characteristics, marital status, and socioeconomic status. Statistically, white blood cell levels, serum glucose levels, triglyceride levels, high-density lipoprotein levels, and serum CRP and TGF-β1 were significantly higher in patients with migraine (p < 0.05). The ROC curve results in this study identified that CRP and TGF-β1 may discriminate patients who have different types of migraine headache.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study suggests that serum CRP and TGF-β1 levels may be diagnostic factors to differentiate migraine patients with and without aura. These findings show that neurogenic inflammation may have a role in the aetiology of migraines.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Dicle University School of Medicine, Diyarbakir, Turkey. dr.dulda@hotmail.com
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Güzel
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Taşdemir
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Celik
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D002097:C-Reactive Protein / Q000378:metabolism*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008881:Migraine Disorders / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012016:Reference Values; D053773:Transforming Growth Factor beta1 / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D053773:Transforming Growth Factor beta1; D002097:C-Reactive Protein