Magdalena Kegel,  —

Scientists at the Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging at Massachusetts General Hospital were able — for the first time — to track epigenetic factors, or non-genetic influences on gene activity, linked to Huntington’s disease in the brains of living humans. The study, “Insights into neuroepigenetics through human histone…

About 300 international scientists and industry leaders recently gathered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, for the Hereditary Disease Foundation‘s 10th biennial “Milton Wexler Celebration of Life” Symposium, to promote collaborations that can take scientific findings from the laboratory into the lives of patients as treatments. One of the highlights of the meeting,…

In recent years, Huntington’s disease has joined the group of neurodegenerative diseases characterized by aggregation of the tau protein in fibrillary tangles inside neurons. An invention by Prana Biotechnology might give new insights into the disease processes and allow for new drug candidates to be screened for activity against the…

Huntexil (pridopidine), a drug candidate intended to treat Huntington’s disease movement symptoms, might have a more intricate way of acting on the brain than researchers previously believed — by ramping up activity in molecular pathways known to promote neuroprotection. In the study “Pridopidine activates neuroprotective pathways impaired in…

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have found that patients with Huntington’s disease have a deficient system controlling the amount of the amino acid cysteine that goes inside cells — a deficit linked to oxidative stress. The authors of the study, “Transcriptional control of amino acid homeostasis is disrupted…

What do people with Huntington’s disease, obsessive compulsive disorder, and ADHD have in common? The answer is the basal ganglia, a brain region that controls movement. Recent research suggests a new model for how this region initiates and sustains movement, showing that two pathways, previously thought mutually exclusive, can actually…

Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) report they’ve identified a novel compound that could be a potential therapy strategy for Huntington’s disease, protecting nerve cells from death in both cultured cells and animal models of the disease. The study, “SIRT2- and NRF2-Targeting Thiazole-Containing Compound with Therapeutic Activity in…

Researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Boston University have developed a system capable of rapidly analyzing protein aggregation, a hallmark of Huntington’s disease, and opening new possibilities in exploring both the causes of protein accumulation and the potential of new drugs to counteract it. The method,…

Results from a Phase 3 clinical trial found that deutetrabenazine (SD-809), an investigational drug developed by Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, improved chorea among Huntington’s disease patients. But the researchers caution that more studies are needed to ascertain the treatment’s long-term effectiveness and safety. Data from the trial showing that the drug improved swallowing…

Gene therapy using mesenchymal stem cells for Huntington’s disease is showing promise in mouse studies, and preparations are underway to possibly move it into clinical testing. Before the technique might be ready for human trials, however, scientists need to master a few more steps, using larger animal models to investigate the therapy’s…