A Genetic Lottery - a Column by Becky Field

A recent study reviewed the strengths and weaknesses of using animal studies to investigate the potential of stem cell therapy to treat Huntington’s disease. The review, titled “Regenerative Medicine In Huntington’s Disease: Strengths And Weaknesses Of Preclinical Studies,” was published in the journal Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews. Huntington’s…

Caffeine boosts a neuroprotective protein in the brain that is lost in neurodegenerative conditions such as Huntington’s disease, according to a study. Researchers identified 23 other compounds that also act on the protein, known as NMNAT2. Since increasing the protein may help patients with Huntington’s or similar conditions, the researchers…

Levels of a protein called neurofilament light (NFL) could be a valuable biomarker for tracking Huntington’s disease progression, according to a study. The research, “Tau Or Neurofilament Light—Which Is The More Suitable Biomarker For Huntington’s Disease?,” was published in the journal PLoS One. Huntington’s is caused by an…

BRACE, a U.K. charity supporting dementia research, awarded more than £58,500 ($72,631) to a team of scientists investigating how a faulty “recycling” mechanism in neurons contributes to the onset of neurological diseases such as Huntington’s and Alzheimer’s. The winning team at Plymouth University Peninsula Schools of Medicine and Dentistry (PUPSMD)…

Researchers discovered new biomarkers of early-stage Huntington’s disease in sheep with the disease, according to a new study. These findings may help detect the disease before symptoms appear, and could aid in the design of new therapies. The study, “Metabolic Profiling Of Presymptomatic Huntington’s Disease Sheep Reveals Novel Biomarkers,”…

Blocking the expression of mutated huntingtin — the protein involved in Huntington’s disease — by directly targeting the faulty gene may be a way of stopping disease progression in patients, according to results of an early study. The study was published in the journal Nucleic Acids Research, under the title “CTG…

NUI Galway researcher and Professor Robert Lahue has been awarded a newly launched grant to investigate potential treatments for Huntington’s disease. The grant is a joint initiative of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council UK (BBSRC) and the Science Foundation Ireland (SFI). The grant will provide nearly 700,000…

Enhancing a cell’s quality control mechanism to get rid of the faulty proteins that are a hallmark of Huntington’s disease may help prevent patients’ motor and cognitive loss, a study suggests. The researchers’ discovery of how the quality control mechanism fails may pave the way toward the development of novel therapies…

Patients with Huntington’s disease with low levels of perceived psychological distress may have weaker social cognitive skills, according to a new study. However, researchers think that this association (self-reporting of psychological distress and social cognitive test performance) may be due to apathy and/or impaired insight, which are common in this disease.

The European Union is inviting researchers in 20 countries to work together on projects focusing on Huntington’s disease (HD) and other degenerative diseases. The agency sponsoring the effort, the Joint Programme — Neurodegenerative Disease Research (JPND), said in a press release that neurodegenerative conditions have become a global health epidemic, with heavy economic…