Huntington’s disease research news. In plain language. Written by scientists. For the global HD community.
If we find a therapy that we hope can slow down Huntington's disease, how can we prove that it works in patients? What tests should we do and how long should we follow people up after treatment in order to see any real benefits? A major new paper from Sarah Tabrizi and colleagues, reporting the final outcomes of the TRACK-HD study, provides information that will help us better design trials of new therapies in HD as well as understand how the disease progresses.
Researchers are hard at work figuring out exactly how the expanded Huntington's disease gene causes harm. Recent work from a UK group has uncovered another clue to help solve the mystery. It turns out that faulty processing of the huntingtin 'recipe' produces a short, harmful fragment of the huntingtin protein.
A specific kind of damage called 'oxidative stress' may contribute to cells getting sick and dying in Huntington's disease. Previous reports had suggested that blood levels of a chemical marker of oxidative stress could be a 'biomarker' for HD clinical trials. But a newly-published work strongly suggests that it isn't a useful biomarker after all. Is this bad news?
Is access to 'predictive' genetic testing for Huntington's disease a problem? Research from University of British Columbia researchers suggests that it is, at least in Canada. We explore the problem and possible solutions.
Our third daily report from the annual Huntington's Disease Therapeutics Conference in Venice, Italy on the final day of the conference.
Our second daily report from the annual Huntington's Disease Therapeutics Conference in Venice, Italy. You can tweet @HDBuzzFeed, comment on Facebook or use HDBuzz.net to send us questions, comments and queries.
Isis Pharmaceuticals and Roche have announced a multi-million dollar deal to support the development of 'gene silencing' drugs to human trials. This is big news that secures the future of these exciting drugs for Huntington's disease.
Our first daily report from the annual Huntington's Disease Therapeutics Conference in Venice, Italy. We'll be bringing you live updates via Twitter over the next two days. You can tweet @HDBuzzFeed, comment on Facebook or use HDBuzz.net to send us questions, comments and queries.
Everyone has two copies of the huntingtin gene but Huntington's disease is caused by a copy that's extra-long. New research shows that cells have different controls for how the normal and extra-long instructions are used to make protein. These controls on the protein-making process may be targets for developing drugs for HD.
In part two of our special feature on sleep problems in Huntington's disease, we bring you Prof Morton's 'simple rules for a good night's sleep', distilled from her comprehensive review of sleep research in Huntington's disease.
