Scientists are one step closer to understanding the causes of a migraine when US researchers discovered an association between the three gene variants and migraine.

The study also discovered one gene that shows a link exclusive to women. Migraines are three to four more times likely to strike women. The study which was presented in the online edition of Nature Genetics pinpointed the three genes as TRPM8, LRP1 and PRDM16. The first plays a role in a sufferer's sensitivity to cold and pain while the second gene is involved in the transmissions of signals between neurons according to an AFP report.

Migraines are incapacitating headaches that affect up to 20 percent of the population. Scientists haven't discovered the cause of migraines but this recent study supports the theory that genetics plays a role in migraines. The researchers based their findings on a genetic analysis of 23,230 women, of which 5,122 suffered from migraines.

The researchers discovered that the three above mentioned genes showed up more frequently in migraine patients. TRPM8 and PRDM16 are specific to migraines. TRPM8 is linked to migraines found only in women.

"While migraine remains incompletely understood and its underlying causes difficult to pin down, identifying these three genetic variants helps shed light on the biological roots for this common and debilitating condition," the study's lead author, Dr. Daniel Chasman, assistant professor in the preventive medicine division at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, said in a hospital news release.

Researchers warned that the influence of these three genes is still being studied and they should not be used as a diagnostic tool. The study should be read as an advancement of understanding migraines.