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People with Huntington’s disease in the U.K. are pushing for more open communication regarding assisted dying between clinicians, patients, and their families, a small research study indicates. A first-of-its-kind study in the United Kingdom, where assisted dying is illegal, looked into the attitudes of people with the debilitating disease, which…

Aberrant metabolism of urea is a potential first event promoting Huntington’s disease (HD), a study with a sheep model and human brain samples showed. The findings suggest that lowering brain levels of urea is a potential therapeutic avenue for HD. The report “Brain urea increase is an early Huntington’s…

The chemical compound manganese (Mn) has been reported to take part in the underlying mechanism of Alzheimer’s disease. However, little is known about its involvement in the development of other neurodegenerative diseases. In the study titled “Manganese in manganism, Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and…

Roche will now be responsible for the development and marketing of Ionis Pharmaceuticals’ IONIS-HTTRx after exercising its option to license the investigational drug, designed to treat Huntington’s disease (HD). This move follows highly promising results from a Phase 1/2a clinical trial. The randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial (NCT02519036) tested…

Embryonic stem cells have been seen as a potential therapeutic strategy for several diseases. However, the manipulation of these cells has been a challenge for scientists due to their complex regulatory systems. In a study published in Nature Communications a team led by researchers at the Cologne Cluster…

A poorly active enzyme called aconitase 2 (Aco2), found at low levels in cells, can be a marker of the mitochondrial dysfunction linked to Huntington’s disease and its progression, an early study reports. The study, “Altered Aconitase 2 Activity in Huntington’s Disease Peripheral Blood Cells and Mouse…

Taube Philanthropies, a charitable organization from the San Francisco Bay Area, in California, recently donated $750,000 to the Buck Institute for Research on Aging to support a research consortium working on Huntington’s disease. Lisa Ellerby, PhD, is leading the consortium in collaboration with the Taube Neurodegenerative Disease Stem…

Researchers have found that rilmenidine, a blood pressure medicine, was relatively safe and well-tolerated by Huntington’s disease (HD) patients in a small study. However, its effectiveness in treating the disease remains unknown and warrants further investigation. The study, “An open-label study to assess the feasibility and tolerability of rilmenidine for…

The Hereditary Disease Foundation (HDF) raised $900,000 to fund research into Huntington’s disease and other brain disorders during its Nov. 6 “Celebration of 50 Years of Discovery” symposium and gala at New York’s Metropolitan Club. The event included a scientific symposium and a dinner and award ceremony, where winners…

A protein responsible for protecting nerve cells can become embedded in other substances in the brains of  Huntington’s patients, preventing it from performing its neuroprotective work, Spanish researchers report. Another important finding was that the areas where the ATF5 protein are embedded also contain clusters of the faulty huntingtin protein…