Treating crying: rapid test selects migraine therapy based on patient's tears

Russian specialists have developed an express test that will help to select the appropriate treatment for people suffering from migraine. The test strip determines the level of a specific protein in the patient's tear fluid, and based on the data obtained, specialists select drugs that will help prevent and manage pain. Medical institutions are already interested in the development. Experts interviewed by Izvestia consider it promising, as now it can take months to find an effective drug.

How migraine is treated

Sechenov University presented an innovative system for personalized selection of therapy for patients with migraine. As the developers told Izvestia, migraine is one of the most widespread neurological diseases. It affects more than a billion people in the world. Due to the disability of patients for the duration of attacks, the chronic disease gives a large economic burden on individuals, health care systems and society, the scientists said.

Photo: Press service of the Department of Entrepreneurship and Innovative Development of the City of Moscow

Now, selecting drugs to alleviate symptoms requires significant time and cost. The new technology makes it possible to systematize migraine and identify specific therapies for each patient.

- Currently, to find out whether treatment will help a patient, a doctor prescribes a trial three-month course of expensive drugs. Our test system will be an alternative: it will allow to avoid unnecessary spending and get the right therapy in 10 minutes," Vyacheslav Novikov, a resident physician of the Department of Nervous Diseases of the Institute of Professional Education of Sechenov University, told Izvestia.

Photo: Global Look Press/Bulkin Sergey

The development is a test system that issues recommendations after determining the level of CGRP-protein - a marker of pain in the tear fluid. It consists of three parts: a test strip, a case and a die for collecting the material. To analyze, you need to collect the tear using the plate from the inner surface of the lower eyelid. And then place the biological material in the case with the test strip. A window in the case will give the result.

According to the developers, there are two ways to treat migraine today. The first is conventional therapy according to standards. It uses a group of drugs that are also used for other diseases. These include drugs for the heart, against epilepsy and so on.

- And the second is targeting therapy, that is, therapy that binds the causative agent of migraine in patients - calcitonin gene related peptide (CGRP), - said Vyacheslav Novikov. - But often the problem is that migraine is caused not by one of these proteins, against which there are drugs, but by five or six proteins that are potentially involved in the pathogenesis, that is, in the development of migraine.

How the new migraine test systems work

The test system shows the level of CGRP. Patients who have elevated levels of the peptide that causes migraine attacks are put on targeted therapy by doctors to reduce side effects. And the group of patients who test negative are sent on treatment according to standard clinical guidelines, in which drugs are individually tailored.

- To manage migraine attacks, a drug from the heptant group (innovative drugs that block specific receptors), which also targets calcitonin-gene related peptide, will hit the market in 2025. But in order to understand whether this drug will help the patient, we need our test system that determines the level of the peptide in the tear fluid," said Vyacheslav Novikov.

Photo: RIA Novosti

Thesystem of personalized therapy selection for migraine patients will be in demand on the market, believes Alexander Zakharov, Director of the Research Institute of Neurosciences of SamSMU, expert of the Healthnet NTI market, Candidate of Medical Sciences, Associate Professor.

- This is due to the fact that migraine affects about 1 billion people worldwide. Modern methods of diagnosis and treatment are often empirical in nature, and individual sensitivity of patients to therapy varies significantly. The innovative test system provides an objective and fast way to select therapy, which makes it promising for wide clinical application, especially in neurological practices, - said the specialist.

According to him, now the diagnosis of the causes of migraine is based on clinical history, neurological examination and exclusion of secondary causes of headache. Instrumental methods are used to detect structural pathologies, such as MRI and CT of the brain, as well as biomarkers of inflammation and neurotransmitters, including the level of CGRP, measured mainly in blood plasma. In some cases, genetic studies are used to identify migraine susceptibility, especially in cases of familial forms of the disease.

Photo: TASS/Sergey Bobylev

Express systems easily find a niche in the market, as they require a minimal set of equipment and can be performed in different conditions, emphasized Alexander Malov, a general practitioner at the Center for New Medical Technologies (Novosibirsk) and an expert on the Healthnet STI market. However, it is necessary to wait for mass introduction of the development into clinical practice.

State and private clinics are interested in the innovation. The developers received a grant from the Moscow Venture Fund to launch and implement the project. The development was among the three best projects of the capital's "Studfest-2025", the press service of the Department of Entrepreneurship and Innovative Development of Moscow reported.