Joana Carvalho, PhD,  managing science editor—

Changes in the shape of a brain region called the neostriatum — involved in motor and cognitive control — are associated with specific clinical features in people with Huntington’s disease at different stages of the disorder, a study has found. The results, “Striatal morphology and neurocognitive dysfunction…

People with Huntington’s disease may have two different symptom profiles, a cognitive-motor and a psychiatric profile, associated with different clinical and neurobiological features. The findings of the study, “Specific patterns of brain alterations underlie distinct clinical profiles in Huntington’s disease,” were published in NeuroImage: Clinical. Huntington’s…

Mutant huntingtin, the protein involved in Huntington’s disease, travels from one neuron to another using a network of tunnels built by a protein called Rhes, a study finds. The study, “Rhes travels from cell to cell and transports Huntington disease protein via TNT-like protrusion,” was published in the…

Mild genetic or environmental changes that upset the circadian clock (our internal sleep-wake cycle) may work to diminish the toxicity of mutant huntingtin, the protein involved in Huntington’s disease and nerve cell death, an early study in a fruit fly model found. The study, “Circadian Clocks Function in Concert…

Patients at advanced stages of Huntington’s disease have marked difficulties in controlling vehicles in a driving simulator compared to patients who are at a pre-symptomatic stage or healthy subjects, a study shows. The study’s authors think such driving simulators could be useful screening tools to aid clinicians in…

Researchers narrowing in on early neuronal functioning stages of development, well before Huntington’s disease symptoms appear, believe they have found a potentially important path to intervening with the diabetes medication metformin. Their research was conducted in a mouse model of the disease. Metformin, an oral medication normally prescribed to patients…

Time perception is impaired in patients with Huntington’s disease, even in pre- or early-symptomatic stages of the disease, and is correlated with disease severity and progression, Swiss researchers found. The study, “Auditory time perception in Huntington’s disease,” was published in Neuropsychologia. Huntington’s disease is a genetic neurodegenerative disorder…

Researchers have found a direct link between abnormal protein accumulation in nerve cells — a hallmark of several neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s — and the regulation of gene activity in Huntington’s disease. According to researchers, both processes are influenced by autophagy, a mechanism used by cells to break…

Changes in the brain’s white matter in early Huntington’s disease can reflect a process that’s clinically relevant and might be linked to early cognitive dysfunction, according to researchers from Harvard Medical School. Their study, “Complex spatial and temporally defined myelin and axonal degeneration in Huntington disease,” was published in…