The role of the immune system and the biomarker CD3 + CD4 + CD45RA−CD62L− in the pathophysiology of migraine

The role of the immune system as an integral component of the inflammatory response in the pathophysiology of migraine remains unclear. The aim of this study was to evaluate the differences in immune system parameters (acquired immunity parameters) in patients with episodic migraine (EM) and in healthy controls. In EM patients, we aimed to determine whether the changes found in peripheral blood parameters were related to migraine severity according to the standardised MIDAS and HIT-6 tests. Forty-nine patients with EM and 50 healthy controls were included in this study. The authors compared different lymphocyte parameters obtained by multicolor flow cytometry in the EM and control groups by performing statistical tests. The relationship between the changes in peripheral blood parameters and migraine severity in EM patients was investigated using correlation and regression analysis. EM patients showed higher values than healthy controls, especially in nine parameters: relative count of lymphocytes, relative and absolute counts of CD3 T cells, relative and absolute counts of CD8 suppressor cytotoxic T cells, relative and absolute counts of CD4 + T(EMRA) (terminally differentiated helper T lymphocytes), absolute count of CD8 naïve T cells, and absolute count of CD19 switched memory B cells. Among the lymphocyte parameters, CD4 + T(EM) (effector memory helper T lymphocytes) and CD8 + T(EMRA) (terminally differentiated cytotoxic T lymphocytes) were statistically significantly associated with HIT-6. Patients with a CD4 + T(EM) value below 15 had a high probability (90%) that the HIT-6 value would be higher than 60. The results of this study show that EM patients have changes in immune system parameters measured in the peripheral blood. Changes in the abundance of CD4 + T(EM) could be used as a biomarker for disease severity.