Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and migraine are both common disorders which are caused by a faulty immune system and autonomic nervous system dysfunction, respectively. Although current treatment outlook has shown a great improvement in these two diseases, however many side effects have been reported.
We reported a case of 43-years-female that has suffered from rheumatoid arthritis for 3 years with a 6 years history of migraine. She had used different types of medication for both rheumatoid arthritis and migraine but during these 6 years no improvement had been observed and even migraine progression in this patient became worse. She was admitted to the hospital for 12 weeks follow-up to evaluate the effect of β-D-mannuronic acid (M2000) on her RA disease.
During 12 weeks of M2000 therapy, the signs and symptoms of migraine along with RA indices including Disease Activity Score (DAS28), simple disease activity index (SDAI) and C-reactive protein (CRP), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), rheumatoid factor (RF), anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibodies (anti-CCP) and blood determinants were measured.
The patient achieved a strong clinical improvement after 12 weeks of M2000 therapy in DAS28, SDAI and laboratory parameters. Moreover, M2000 showed a significant effect on the severity and the duration of migraine pain as well as times of migraine attack. In the present case, both rheumatoid arthritis and migraine as two different inflammatory diseases were diagnosed. Therefore, reducing the inflammation could be a valuable target to decrease the signs and symptoms of migraine and rheumatoid arthritis and help to the treatment process.
M2000 as a novel designed non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) with immunosuppressive property is able to treat migraine in addition to its potent efficacy on treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.