Galcanezumab treatment changes visual related EEG connectivity patterns in migraine patients

Abstract

Background: Monoclonal antibodies against calcitonin gene-related peptides (CGRP) are innovative therapies for migraine treatment. Although they are clinically effective, how anti-CGRP treatment reduces migraine attacks still remains unclear. Objective: In this observational case–control study, we aimed to apply graph theory to EEG data from 20 migraine patients and 10 controls to investigate the effects of 3 months of galcanezumab on brain connectivity. Methods: We analyzed EEG rhythms during black-white pattern reversal stimulation with 0.5 cycle per degree spatial frequency before (T0) galcanezumab injection, as well as after 3 months (T2). EEG recordings made 1 hour after galcanezumab administration served as the control session (T1). Patients’ connectivity patterns obtained at T0, T1 and T2 were compared with normal controls. Results: We found that galcanezumab increased network integration (with a 5% significance level corrected with the false discovery rate), changing the intensity of connections between the occipital through the frontal areas. At 3 months follow up, patients with persistent high headache intensity had a minor effect on the strength of connections (evaluated using Kendall’s rank correlation test and p < 0.05). Conclusions: The potent anti-nociceptive action that galcanezumab exerts at a peripheral level could restore cortical connections and possibly factors predisposing to attack onset.