News

A multi-institutional team with researchers from the Genetic Modifiers of Huntington’s Disease (GeM-HD) Consortium recently published in the journal Cell a new breakthrough in Huntington’s disease by identifying new genetic variants that can accelerate or delay symptom onset in patients. The study is entitled “…

In a new study entitled “Allosteric interactions between agonists and antagonists within the adenosine A2A receptor-dopamine D2 receptor heterotetramer” researchers determined the structure of a key receptor underlying neurodegenerative diseases, including Parkinson’s disease, and showed how current drugs targeting these receptors and used to treat Parkinson’s can…

In a new study entitled “Low-Dose Irradiation Enhances Gene Targeting in Human Pluripotent Stem Cells” researchers showed that providing low-dose radiation to human pluripotent stem cells can enhance gene-editing, allowing a faster and less expensive throughput of edited cells to understand and find the cure for several diseases…

Isis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. a leading company in RNA-targeted drug discovery and development, recently announced they will initiate a new Phase I/IIa clinical trial of ISIS_HTTRx for the treatment of Huntington’s disease (HD). Roche will give Isis a milestone payment of $22 million for the initiation of the trial. The placebo-controlled,…

Fingolimod, a drug often prescribed to patients with Multiple Sclerosis (MS), has found a new application to treat patients with cognitive impairment in Huntington’s Disease. These were the conclusions of a group of researchers at the University of Barcelona (UB) and the August Pi i Sunyer Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBAPS), who studied…

The Huntington’s Disease Society of America has selected Dr. Neil Aronin, a professor of medicine, to be this year’s recipient of its prestigious Research Award in recognition of his transformative contributions to what is now known about Huntington’s disease, a rare, inherited neurodegenerative condition. Dr. Aronin is currently the chief of…

Researchers from the Scripps Research Institute identified the protein Rhes as a crucial player in neuronal death in the striatum, the brain region responsible for motor and cognitive functions. The study entitled “Ectopic expression of the striatal-enriched GTPase Rhes elicits cerebellar degeneration and an ataxia phenotype in Huntington’s…

A new study recently published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry revealed a new cellular property distinctive of Huntington’s disease pathogenesis. The study is entitled “Huntington’s disease cerebrospinal fluid seeds aggregation of mutant huntingtin” and was conducted by researchers at the University of California-Irvine,…

Courtagen Life Sciences, Inc., released several new Next Generation Sequencing tests designed to evaluate people with epilepsy and mitochondrial disease. Mitochondrial diseases are inherited or chronic illness. They can occur either at birth or may develop later, and include problems with development and cognition. They may cause poor growth, lack of coordination, weakness, pain and seizures.

Results from a recent study published in the journal Cell provide a new potential therapeutic avenue for preventing the transgenerational transmission of human mitochondrial diseases caused by mutations in mtDNA, the DNA located in the mitochondria. Mitochondria are double-membrane cellular organelles of bacterial origin that play…