Alpha-synuclein, the protein implicated in Parkinson’s disease, may play a role in Huntington’s disease after researchers found elevated levels of the protein in patients, a recent study suggests. The study, “Elevated Serum α-Synuclein Levels in Huntington’s Disease Patients,” was published in Neuroscience.
Over the last few decades, there has been an increasing number of clinical trials focused on the search of new therapeutic strategies to manage Huntington’s Disease (HD), an incurable neurodegenerative disease characterized by motor, cognitive and psychiatric problems. However, there have been few advances, and research is now focusing on…
Scientists at Boston Children’s Hospital have revealed the cellular and biological mechanisms involved in synapse loss in Alzheimer’s disease. By blocking certain agents involved in this process, scientists could halt synaptic loss, a discovery with therapeutic potential not only for Alzheimer’s, but also other diseases with loss of neuronal connections, including Huntington’s disease. The…
University of California at Davis researchers have, for the first time, successfully tested human stem cells (MSCs) as a delivery system for a key protein growth factor in mouse models of Huntington’s disease (HD), an important step for the development of novel therapies. The research article, “Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells…
Researchers at Philadelphia’s Thomas Jefferson University investigated the physiological and pathological role of MICU1 (Mitochondrial Calcium Uptake 1), a protein that controls calcium by the mitochondria, a process involved in cell survival. Results suggest that strengthening this protein’s function and inhibiting mitochondrial calcium uptake could be a novel therapeutic approach…
New Huntington’s research sheds light on the link between the effects of the disease’s underlying mutation on brain structure and function, and consequent behavior anomalies. Studying the gene mutation’s expression in a precise brain area of songbirds, scientists observed how the mutation affects specific neurons and changes behavior, findings that could lead to the…
Emory University researchers deleted the Huntington’s disease-causing protein, huntingtin, in the brains of adult mice, and observed that such deletion was safe in adults though not in relatively newborn mice. The study, “Ablation of huntingtin in adult neurons is nondeleterious but its depletion in young mice causes acute pancreatitis”…
Researchers have developed a computational cognitive classification method that allows the differentiation of pre-symptomatic Huntington’s disease patients from early onset patients and healthy subjects, an approach that demonstrates promise for classification and prediction of brain disorders. The research paper, “A Computational Cognitive Biomarker for Early-Stage Huntington’s Disease,” was published…
Researchers found that the mutant huntingtin protein aggregates characteristic of Huntington’s disease have distinctive structural features, a discovery that might help to uncover the disease’s underlying mechanisms and lead to new therapies. The study, “Huntingtin exon 1 fibrils feature an interdigitated β-hairpin–based polyglutamine core,” was published in Proceedings of the National…
A research team successfully developed a virus variant that is more efficient than the current standard at crossing the blood-brain barrier and delivering genes to the central nervous system (CNS), making it a promising gene therapy approach to treating neurodegenerative diseases such as Huntington’s disease. The blood-brain barrier, made up of specialized…
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