News

Bioinformatics Unlocks Mechanisms of Disease Progression

Bioinformatics, a field that enables powerful analysis of large amounts of data, is being applied to Huntington’s disease to find potential candidate molecules that play a role in pathogenesis. Researchers have conducted high throughput screens of genetic information, and this information is now being deciphered by different computer programs to…

Sangamo and Shire Amend Contract to Expedite Development of ZFP Therapeutics for Huntington’s Disease

Sangamo BioSciences, Inc., a leader in therapeutic genome editing, recently announced it has agreed to amend its January 2012 collaboration and licensing agreement with Shire to accelerate the development of ZFP Therapeutics geared towards treated hemophilia A and B and Huntington’s disease. This agreement follows the companies’ mutual decision to refocus their research…

Brain Stimulation in Huntington’s Disease Promising, According to Study

Germany and UK-based researchers have found that a surgical implantation procedure known as pallidal deep brain stimulation was safe when placed into the brain for the reduction of movement problems in Huntington’s disease. The study could allow for more research examining the effectiveness of the technique in larger groups of people with the condition.

Psychiatric Symptoms May Delay Huntington’s Disease Diagnosis

In a new study entitled “Delayed identification and diagnosis of Huntington’s disease due to psychiatric symptoms” researchers present a case study of a female patient with 58 years old diagnosed with Huntington’s disease as a consequence of psychiatric symptoms prior to motor symptoms. The study was published in the International…

Highly Sensitive Assay for mHTT Predicts Huntington’s Disease

Tapping into the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of patients with Huntington’s disease may give insights on disease onset, diminished functional ability and potential therapeutic agents for treatment. A recent study investigated whether huntingtin (HTT) protein could be detected in CSF, and the research team behind the investigation created an assay with…

Huntington Disease-Afflicted Families May Share Common Ancestors

Could patients with Huntington’s disease (HD) who are of European ancestry be related by a distant individual? Perhaps, according to a study from the Center for Human Genetic Research at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Researchers led by Dr. Jong-Min Lee and Dr. James F. Gusella conducted an investigation into…

Creation of Habits Occurs Through Reward-Seeking Mechanisms Within Neurons: Implications For Huntington’s Disease

Huntington’s disease (HD) is a progressive neurodegenerative genetic disorder that affects muscle coordination, cognitive reduction and behavioral symptoms. Now, a recent study from MIT researchers entitled “Habit Learning by Naive Macaques Is Marked by Response Sharpening of Striatal Neurons Representing the Cost and Outcome of Acquired Action…