Objective
Migraine is a common brain disorder, typically characterised by recurring, incapacitating attacks of 1-3 days of severe headache, autonomic dysfunction, and sometimes aura symptoms. The disease affects 15% of all European citizens including children, ranks among the WHO top 12 of most disabling and undertreated disorders, and is responsible for the highest socio-economic burden of any brain ailment in Europe.
Migraine attacks typically strike bi-monthly, and in 25% of patients once a week or more. Many patients may progress to “chronic migraine” with near-daily headaches and high disability (chronification). There is desperate need of effective prophylactic treatments to prevent attacks and chronification. Current medications are only moderately effective and often poorly tolerated, mainly due to lack of understanding of how attacks are triggered and why their frequency may increase so dramatically. Overuse of painkillers and triptans, are recognised risk factors for chronification, as are comorbid depression, stress, and obesity. Central sensitisation of pain signalling pathways appears to be pivotal to the chronification proces.
EUROHEADPAIN will use established and evolving human and translational animal models to: (a) identify pathways and biomarkers for the triggering and chronification of migraine attacks; (b) decipher the modulatory effects of (hypothalamic) brain circuitries on trigeminal processing, sensitisation, and chronification; (c) assess the effects and mode of action of migraine-provoking molecules; and (d) evaluate the efficacy and mode of action of neuromodulation (in collaboration with an SME) and second messenger-blocking drugs in the treatment of chronic migraine. We expect important spin-offs to the understanding of other chronic pain disorders. The pharmaceutical industry will be engaged once treatable targets have been identified to develop novel treatments to reduce the disability and socio-economic burden due to migraine.
Fields of science
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
Call for proposal
FP7-HEALTH-2013-INNOVATION-1
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Funding Scheme
CP-FP - Small or medium-scale focused research projectCoordinator
2333 ZA Leiden
Netherlands
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Participants (13)
4000 Liege
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20251 Hamburg
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Participation ended
CB10 1SA SAFFRON WALDEN
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00014 HELSINGIN YLIOPISTO
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QLD 4006 Herston
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34136 Trieste
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91054 Erlangen
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94607 Berkeley
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3400 Hillerod
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4040 HERSTAL
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6720 Szeged
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WC2R 2LS London
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4001 Brisbane
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