Marta Figueiredo, PhD, Managing Science Editor —

The British Psychological Society has released evidence-based recommendations for health professionals managing the psychological health of people with Huntington’s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders. Its document noted the lack of research on psychological interventions and the poor access to specialized mental health services for these patient groups, highlighting an urgent…

Higher-than-normal levels of mu-opioid receptor 1 (MOR1) in the striatum — a brain region particularly affected in Huntington’s disease — may contribute to both early psychiatric symptoms and late motor difficulties seen in Huntington’s patients, according to a study in a mouse model of the disease. The data also…

The first wave of COVID-19 in Europe severely disrupted access to care and raised stress and anxiety in people with rare diseases, negatively affecting their health and well-being, according to a survey conducted by Eurordis-Rare Diseases Europe. “People living with rare diseases in Europe have found themselves caught as collateral…

Prilenia Therapeutics, in partnership with the Huntington Study Group (HSG), has launched the Phase 3 PROOF-HD clinical trial to evaluate the company’s lead experimental oral therapy, pridopidine, in people with early stage Huntington’s disease. Pridopidine “is a first-in-class [therapy] candidate, with promising previous clinical results and…

Behavioral changes due to early onset Huntington’s disease and problems with school, and social and family life are common,  particularly among pediatric patients, according to a case series study in Germany. Socio-medical problems in these children were associated both with their own disease, and with the additional burden of  parents…

Huntington’s disease alters nerve cell development in the cortex — a brain region largely affected in people with the condition — before birth, a study has found. “Huntington’s definitely has a neurodevelopmental component in addition to a neurodegenerative disease,” Sandrine Humbert, PhD, the study’s senior author at the…

Antidopaminergic medications are associated with lesser chorea and irritability in people with Huntington’s disease, but they may worsen their cognitive skills, data from the largest observational study of the disease show. Future, prospective studies are needed to confirm these findings, and to determine whether treatments to lower dopamine levels indeed…

Vaccinex’s experimental therapy pepinemab (VX15/2503) improves brain metabolism, halts its atrophy, and eases motor and cognitive symptoms in people with late prodromal (before clinical diagnosis) and early Huntington’s disease, according to initial data from a Phase 2 clinical trial. The findings were presented at the Advances…

Researchers have identified three new small molecules that significantly reduce the formation of toxic aggregates of mutant huntingtin — the underlying cause of Huntington’s disease — in cells derived from Huntington’s patients. These molecules work by selectively and potently binding to the expanded CAG repeats in an intermediate molecule…

The mini pig model of Huntington’s disease not only has a similar brain anatomy to humans, but also shows the slow and age-dependent neurodegeneration and weight loss that’s characteristic of the disease, according to a recent study. These features make it an advantageous model to use in preclinical studies…