HD-EEG Connectivity Changes in Migraine Patients Undergoing Treatment With Anti-CGRP mAbs

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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Migraine is a leading cause of disability with an estimated prevalence of 12% in Europe. The headache field witnessed a breakthrough since the introduction of specific preventive therapies which proved effective and well tolerated, namely the monoclonal antibodies directed against the Calcitonin Gene Related Peptide (CGRP) pathway (mAbs). Their mechanism of action is still debated. Several Authors claimed that, despite the site of action is peripheral (namely outside of the blood brain barrier), the resulting action may take place at central level. Another valuable hypothesis is that the clinical modifications resulting from mAbs treatment may induce functional modulation of several brain areas. With these premises, the primary aim of the study is to evaluate changes in functional connectivity in patients undergoing preventive mAbs treatment using high density EEG.

Detailed Description
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Electroencephalogram (EEG) is widely available as a powerful mean to non-invasively study brain connectivity features in migraine patients. High density EEG, by means of a minimum of 64 up to 256 electrodes, enables to record electrical brain activity with high spatial resolution. Through the analysis of brain oscillations across different frequency bands (from alpha to delta), it can evaluate sensory, pain processing and information integration, contributing to a better definition of baseline features and to detect potential markers or predictors for therapeutic interventions in an era addressed to precision medicine. Previous neurophysiological studies focused on EEG and to assess functional connectivity or spectral analysis in migraine patients. Conventional studies found higher slow wave activity (predominantly theta) in the inter-ictal phase (Bjork, 2009; Coppola 2019) and higher excitability in the visual cortex during visual aura (de Tommaso, 2017). In 2016 a resting state study showed a predominance of low frequency bands in the ictal phase. The interictal and ictal phases patients also presented a diffuse lower coherence, suggesting low functional connectivity (Cao, 2016). Furthermore, an altered spatial connectivity for lower alpha-band activities was found in the interictal phases during sensory stimulation by means of HD-EEG, suggesting a thalamocortical dysrhythmia (Chamanzar, 2021). Nowadays, targeted preventive migraine therapies are available, namely monoclonal antibodies directed against the Calcitonin Gene Related Peptide (CGRP) pathway (mAbs). They demonstrated high efficacy and tolerability in both chronic and episodic migraine. Despite their peripheral site of action (outside of the blood brain barrier), the resulting action may take place at central level or determine clinical modifications leading to a functional modulation of several brain areas. The primary aim of the study is to evaluate changes in functional connectivity in patients undergoing preventive mAbs treatment using HD- EEG and eventual connectivity differences between Responders and Non-Responders. Study design: Patients will undergo visits planned at baseline (T0) and quarterly (T3-T6) during which clinical data is collected and an HD-EEG is performed. Healthy controls will undergo EEG registration once. HD-EEG registration: We will randomly acquire 4 recordings (6 minutes each) in resting-state condition, 2 with opened eyes, and 2 with closed eyes. We will analyze the resting state FC among six resting state networks (Default mode network, Dorsal attention network, Ventral attention network, Language network , Somatomotor network and Visual network) in the following frequency bands: alfa 8-12 Hz, beta 13-30 Hz, gamma 31-80 Hz, theta 4-7 Hz. delta 1-3 Hz. Acquisition parameters will be: High-Pass: 0.5 Hz; Low-Pass: 100 Hz; Notch: 50 Hz. For analysis of HD-EEG data, we will use a tailored analysis pipe-line that was previously developed and validated to reconstruct neural sources from cortical/subcortical gray matter (Semprini, 2021). EEG signals will be band-pass filtered (1-80 Hz) and down-sampled at 250 Hz. Biological artifacts will be rejected using Independent Component Analysis (ICA). EEG signals will be referenced with a customized version of the Reference Electrode Standardization Technique (REST) (Mantini, 2007). A matrix will estimate the relationship between the measured scalp potentials and the dipoles corresponding to brain sources. Sources reconstruction will be performed with the exact low-resolution brain electromagnetic tomography (eLORETA) algorithm Statistical plan: The sample size was computed with the freeware online platform www.openepi.com. As few studies focused on functional connectivity evaluation in migraine, with no studies analyzing longitudinal changes during a specific treatment, our sample size analysis was based on the work of Bjork (Bjork et al., 2009). We thus considered as clinically meaningful a difference between groups in the theta relative power band equal to 0.04 (±0.04). Considering a two-tailed t-test for the comparison with confidence interval 95%; power: 80%, the minimum suggested sample size was 20 subjects for CM group and 20 subjects for HFEM group. A preliminary normality analysis will be performed to decide whether to use parametric or non-parametric methods, through Shapiro Wilk test. Numerical variables will be described as mean and standard deviation (or median and quartiles if appropriate), categorical variables as raw numbers and percentages. Functional connectivity analyses will be conducted for separate bands and eyes closed registration.

Official Title
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High-density EEG Evaluation of Functional Connectivity Changes in Migraine Patients Receiving Advanced Preventive Therapies (Anti-CGRP mAbs)

Conditions
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Migraine Disorders, Chronic Migraine, Episodic Migraine

Intervention / Treatment
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* Drug: Monoclonal antibody targeting the CGRP pathway (ligand or receptor) (mAbs)


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: Episodic or chronic migraine diagnosis according to ICHD-3 criteria Indication to BoNT-A or mAbs treatment according to AIFA criteria Brain MRI performed within 24 months from enrolment Exclusion Criteria: Previous or actual history of epilepsy Diagnosis of dementia o mental retardation Diagnosis of psychiatric illness according to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders V Other concomitant type of headache (except for sporadic tension type headache) Chronic pain conditions Pregnancy or breastfeeding Concomitant use of electrical stimulators, pace-makers, metallic clips or other metallic foreign bodies Previous head surgery Ongoing neuroactive prevention therapies or other drugs, or psicoactive substances possibly interfering with EEG recording (eg benzodiazepines) Other conditions possibly influencing EEG recording Brain anomalies detected on MRI

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 18 Years
Maximum Age: 65 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| HFEM or CM treated with mAbs<br>Patients with high frequency episodic or chronic migraine undergoing treatment with monoclonal antibodies directed against calcitonin gene related peptide pathway | Drug: Monoclonal antibody targeting the CGRP pathway (ligand or receptor) (mAbs)<br>* Monthly or quarterly mAbs administration for a year<br>|
| Healthy Controls<br>Group of healthy controls comparable for demographic features | |

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Differences in absolute functional connectivity values (continuous variable, without unit of measurement) in resting state networks (RSN-FC) in migraine group across 6 months of mAbs treatment. | To compare HD-EEG functional connectivity in migraine patients across 6 months of mAbs treatment | Baseline (T0) - 3 months of mAbs treatment (T3) - 6 months of mAbs treatment (T6) | 
| Differences in absolute functional connectivity values (continuous variable, without unit of measurement) in Responders vs. Non-Responders across 6 months of mAbs treatment | To compare HD-EEG functional connectivity in Responders (those who achieved a reduction of Monthly migraine days > / = 50% compared to T0) vs. Non-Responders across 6 months of mAbs treatment | Baseline (T0) - 3 months of mAbs treatment (T3) - 6 months of mAbs treatment (T6) | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Baseline differences in absolute functional connectivity values (continuous variable, without unit of measurement) among patients with a baseline diagnosis of HFEM vs. CM vs. healthy controls | To compare HD-EEG functional connectivity among HFEM group (patients with > / = 8 MMDs at T0) vs. CM group (patients with > / = 15 MMDs at T0) vs. healthy controls | Baseline (T0) | 
| Baseline differences in absolute functional connectivity values (continuous variable, without unit of measurement) in Responders vs. Non-Responders | To compare HD-EEG functional connectivity in Responders (those who achieved a reduction of Monthly migraine days > / = 50% vs. T0) vs. Non-Responders at baseline | Baseline (T0) | 

 Terms related to the study
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Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
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migraine, anti CGRP mAbs, HD EEG, brain connectivity, resting state networks