Ülfer Gözde, Polat Burcu, Yabalak Ahmet, Çakıcı Çağrı
Faculty of Medicine, Department of Biochemistry, İstanbul Medipol University, İstanbul, Turkey.
Department of Neurology, Duzce University Faculty of Medicine, Düzce, Turkey.
BMC Neurol. 2025 Feb 4;25(1):46. doi: 10.1186/s12883-025-04058-y.
Zonulin regulates permeability in blood-brain and intestinal barriers. The pathophysiology of migraine is based on the effect of neurogenic inflammation. The aim of the current investigation was to examine the serum zonulin level in individuals suffering from migraine.
The sample comprised 40 individuals who had migraine and 40 controls. Disease duration, attack duration, attack frequency, Visual Analog Scale (VAS) scores, and comorbidities were available for the migraine group. Serum zonulin levels were evaluated by using the ELISA method.
There were no statistically significant differences between the two groups concerning age or gender (p > 0.05). The zonulin value of patients with migraine was higher when compared to the controls, indicating a significant difference (p = 0.037; p < 0.05). The zonulin level did not correlate with disease duration, attack duration, VAS score, or attack frequency (p > 0.05). The receiver operating characteristic curve analysis of zonulin revealed a cut-off value of 30.58 and above, at which it had 52.50% sensitivity, 77.5% specificity, 70% positive predictive value, and 62% a negative predictive value. The area under the curve was 63.6%, and the standard error value was 6.3%. The analysis also showed a statistically significant correlation between migraine diagnosis and a zonulin level of 30.58 (p = 0.006; p < 0.01).
Elevated zonulin levels in patients with migraine support the disruption of the intestinal barrier and neuroinflammation in these patients. The zonulin level may be a predictive biomarker of migraine. Multicenter, randomized trials are needed to evaluate treatments for intestinal permeability and zonulin levels in migraine patients.
闭合蛋白调节血脑屏障和肠道屏障的通透性。偏头痛的病理生理学基于神经源性炎症的作用。本研究的目的是检测偏头痛患者的血清闭合蛋白水平。
样本包括40名偏头痛患者和40名对照者。收集了偏头痛组的病程、发作持续时间、发作频率、视觉模拟量表（VAS）评分及合并症情况。采用酶联免疫吸附测定（ELISA）法评估血清闭合蛋白水平。
两组在年龄或性别方面无统计学显著差异（p>0.05）。与对照组相比，偏头痛患者的闭合蛋白值更高，差异有统计学意义（p=0.037；p<0.05）。闭合蛋白水平与病程、发作持续时间、VAS评分或发作频率均无相关性（p>0.05）。闭合蛋白的受试者工作特征曲线分析显示，临界值为30.58及以上时，其敏感性为52.50%，特异性为77.5%，阳性预测值为70%，阴性预测值为62%。曲线下面积为63.6%，标准误值为6.3%。分析还显示偏头痛诊断与闭合蛋白水平30.58之间存在统计学显著相关性（p=0.006；p<0.01）。
偏头痛患者闭合蛋白水平升高支持这些患者肠道屏障破坏和神经炎症的存在。闭合蛋白水平可能是偏头痛的预测生物标志物。需要进行多中心随机试验来评估偏头痛患者肠道通透性和闭合蛋白水平的治疗方法。
