Identifying a Potential Biomarker and Repurposed Migraine Treatment in Meniere’s disease

Principal Investigator: Dr. Andreas Zwergal

Disease: Meniere’s disease

Research Description: Meniere’s disease is an inner ear disorder characterized by recurrent attacks of vertigo accompanied by auditory symptoms. In the long term, patients suffer from permanent vestibular and hearing loss, severely affecting their quality of life. Currently, there are not good diagnostics based on biomarkers for Meniere’s disease, and treatments vary in their effectiveness. Calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) is a neuropeptide densely expressed in the cochlea and vestibular organ. This project aims to investigate both the capability of CGRP as a novel biomarker in the differential diagnosis of Meniere’s disease and the potential of CGRP inhibiting drugs such as erenumab (currently approved to treat severe migraine) as an innovative treatment for Meniere’s disease. CGRP levels in Meniere’s disease patients will be compared to CGRP levels in vestibular migraine patients and healthy volunteers. Also, the research team will conduct a randomized controlled crossover trial testing erenumab in 30 adult patients with Meniere’s disease. If successful, this project could potentially find a biomarker and a treatment target for Meniere’s disease, thereby impacting early diagnosis, disease progression and quality of life in patients.

Funding Partners: Becky and Lester Knight

CWR funding role: Primary funder