http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. A three molecule complex may be a target for treating Huntington's disease, a genetic disorder affecting the brain. This finding by an international research team including scientists from the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases in Bonn and the University of Mainz was published today in the online journal Nature Communications. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-element-huntington-disease.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Tue, 26 Feb 2013 11:00:01 EST news281091299 A new guideline released by the American Academy of Neurology recommends several treatments for people with Huntington's disease who experience chorea—jerky, random, uncontrollable movements that can make everyday activities challenging. The guideline is published in the July 18, 2012, online issue of Neurology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-aan-guideline-involuntary-movements-huntington.html Neuroscience Wed, 18 Jul 2012 16:00:01 EST news261826556 In a paper published in the July 11 online issue of Science Translational Medicine, researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have identified two key regulatory proteins critical to clearing away misfolded proteins that accumulate and cause the progressive, deadly neurodegeneration of Huntington's disease (HD). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-proteins-clearer-huntington-disease.html Neuroscience Wed, 11 Jul 2012 14:00:01 EST news261230666 (Medical Xpress) -- Human brain cells showing aspects of Huntington’s Disease have been developed, opening up new research pathways for treating the fatal disorder. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-huntington.html Neuroscience Mon, 09 Jul 2012 08:29:30 EST news261041349 Johns Hopkins researchers, working with an international consortium, say they have generated stem cells from skin cells from a person with a severe, early-onset form of Huntington's disease (HD), and turned them into neurons that degenerate just like those affected by the fatal inherited disorder. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-scientists-huntington-disease-mutation-pluripotent.html Medical research Thu, 28 Jun 2012 13:32:37 EST news260109136 With a single drug treatment, researchers at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine can silence the mutated gene responsible for Huntington's disease, slowing and partially reversing progression of the fatal neurodegenerative disorder in animal models. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-drug-reverse-huntington-disease-symptoms.html Neuroscience Wed, 20 Jun 2012 12:00:01 EST news259411330 Studies suggest that neurotrophic factors, which play a role in the development and survival of neurons, have significant therapeutic and restorative potential for neurologic diseases such as Huntington's disease. However, clinical applications are limited because these proteins cannot easily cross the blood brain barrier, have a short half-life, and cause serious side effects. Now, a group of scientists has successfully treated neurological symptoms in laboratory rats by implanting a device to deliver a genetically engineered neurotrophic factor directly to the brain. They report on their results in the latest issue of Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-device-implanted-brain-therapeutic-potential.html Neuroscience Mon, 18 Jun 2012 12:33:21 EST news259241577 The Huntington Study Group (HSG), under the leadership of Ray Dorsey, M.D. with Johns Hopkins Medical and Diana Rosas, M.D. with Massachusetts General Hospital, is conducting a clinical trial in Huntington's disease (HD) throughout the United States and Australia, "A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, study to assess the safety and tolerability, and efficacy of PBT2 in patients with early to mid-stage Huntington's disease" comparing a 100 mg dose or 250 mg dose versus placebo. The HSG is a not-for-profit group of physicians and other clinical researchers who are experienced in the care of HD patients and dedicated to clinical research of the disease. This trial is sponsored by Prana Biotechnology Limited (Melbourne, Australia) and is being managed by the University of Rochester Medical Center. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-reach2hd-phase-ii-huntington-disease.html Neuroscience Thu, 07 Jun 2012 15:51:36 EST news258303082 Researchers from South Korea, Sweden, and the United States have collaborated on a project to restore neuron function to parts of the brain damaged by Huntington's disease (HD) by successfully transplanting HD-induced pluripotent stem cells into animal models. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-neuron-function-brains-huntington-disease.html Neuroscience Tue, 29 May 2012 11:41:22 EST news257510422 Having Huntington's disease or other diseases known as polyglutamine (polyQ) diseases reduces a person's risk of getting cancer, suggesting a common genetic mechanism, concludes an Article published Online First by The Lancet Oncology. The study is by Dr Jianguang Ji, Lund University, and Skåne University Hospital, Malmö, Sweden, and colleagues. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-huntington-disease-polyq-diseases-cancer.html Cancer Wed, 11 Apr 2012 18:30:03 EST news253378647 (Medical Xpress) -- Scientists at the University of Reading have designed a new tool which could significantly aid research and management of an incurable brain disease affecting thousands of people. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-health-happiness-wellbeing-huntingtons-disease.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Fri, 09 Mar 2012 07:28:14 EST news250500458 A study from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden shows that a new drug for Huntington's disease – pridopidine or dopamine stabiliser ACR16 – might operate via previously unknown mechanisms of action. Researchers have found that at very low concentrations, ACR16 binds to the sigma-1 receptor, a protein in the brain important to neuronal function and survival. This new knowledge can be used to develop future treatments for schizophrenia, involuntary Parkinsonian tremors and neurodegenerative diseases. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-knowledge-pharmacology-dopamine-stabilizers.html Psychology & Psychiatry Fri, 24 Feb 2012 09:59:00 EST news249299917 Researchers at National University of Ireland Galway have made a significant scientific discovery in the fight against Huntington's disease. The novel findings are published 21 February in the online, open access journal PLoS Biology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-discovery-huntington-disease.html Parkinson's & Movement disorders Tue, 21 Feb 2012 17:00:15 EST news249054356 A team of researchers at the UC Davis Institute for Regenerative Cures has developed a technique for using stem cells to deliver therapy that specifically targets the genetic abnormality found in Huntington's disease, a hereditary brain disorder that causes progressive uncontrolled movements, dementia and death. The findings, now available online in the journal Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience, suggest a promising approach that might block the disease from advancing. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-important-huntington-disease.html Neuroscience Thu, 19 Jan 2012 15:49:03 EST news246210517 Treatment that increases brain levels of an important regulatory enzyme may slow the loss of brain cells that characterizes Huntington's disease (HD) and other neurodegenerative disorders. In a report receiving advance online publication in Nature Medicine, a Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH)-based research team reports that increased expression of Sirt1, one of a family of enzymes called sirtuins, in the brain of a mouse model of HD protected against neurodegeneration. They also identified a potential mechanism for this protective effect. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-regulatory-enzyme-overexpression-neurodegeneration-huntington.html Neuroscience Sun, 18 Dec 2011 13:00:09 EST news243434244 Huntington's disease (HD) is characterized by ongoing destruction of specific neurons within the brain. It affects a person's ability to walk, talk, and think - leading to involuntary movement and loss of muscle co-ordination. New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal Molecular Neurodegeneration shows that the RyanR inhibitor Dantrolene is able to reduce the severity of walking and balance problems in a mouse model of HD. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-dantrolene-neurons-huntington-disease.html Neuroscience Fri, 25 Nov 2011 05:07:31 EST news241420034 A novel drug (pridopidine) that stabilises dopamine signalling in areas of the brain that control movement and coordination, appears well tolerated and warrants further study in patients with Huntington's disease (HD), a condition characterised by an imbalance in the signalling chemical dopamine. The findings of the phase 3 MermaiHD trial are published Online First in The Lancet Neurology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-drug-well-tolerated-merits-patients-huntington.html Neuroscience Mon, 07 Nov 2011 18:30:01 EST news239897443 Melatonin, best known for its role in sleep regulation, delayed the onset of symptoms and reduced mortality in a mouse model of Huntington's disease, say researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and Harvard Medical School. Their findings, published today in the Journal of Neuroscience, show for the first time that certain receptors for the hormone reside in the mitochondria, and that there are fewer of them both in affected mice and human brains. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-melatonin-onset-deaths-mouse-huntington.html Neuroscience Tue, 11 Oct 2011 17:34:40 EST news237573257 Huntington disease is a devastating neurogenerative disorder that causes a progressive loss of functional capacity and reduced life span. It is an inherited condition caused by a mutant HTT gene. Although this has been known for many years, the functions of the normal Htt protein and the mechanisms by which the mutant protein generated from the mutant HTT gene causes disease are not well understood. A team of researchers led by Frédéric Saudou, at the Institut Curie, France, has now uncovered a new function for normal Htt protein and determined that this function is disrupted in a mouse model of Huntington disease and in patients with the disorder. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-insight-cellular-defects-huntington-disease.html Medical research Mon, 10 Oct 2011 12:00:01 EST news237465719 Huntington's disease, a devastating genetic disorder that causes degeneration of nerve cells in the brain, affects more than 15,000 Americans, and at least 150,000 are at risk of developing the disease. There is no known cure or treatment for the disease -- which starts with changes in mood, judgment, memory, and other cognitive functions and inevitably leads to increasing physical disability, dementia and death. In a new research paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences early edition online, researchers identify a transcriptional biomarker that may assist in the monitoring of disease activity and in the evaluation of new medications. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-transcriptional-biomarker-huntington-disease.html Medical research Mon, 03 Oct 2011 15:00:25 EST news236860983 Johns Hopkins researchers have identified a natural mechanism that might one day be used to block the expression of the mutated gene known to cause Huntington’s disease. Their experiments offer not an immediate cure, but a potential new approach to stopping or even preventing the development of this relentless neurodegenerative disorder. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-huntington-disease.html Genetics Thu, 23 Jun 2011 05:08:51 EST news228024507 (Medical Xpress) -- Medical researchers may have uncovered a novel approach to treat an incurable and ultimately fatal neurodegenerative disease that affects hundreds of thousands of people. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-huntington-disease-breakthrough.html Medical research Thu, 02 Jun 2011 12:00:05 EST news226044825 A new Standard Reference Material (SRM) from the National Institute of Standards and Technology will help clinical genetics labs accurately diagnose Huntington's disease, an inherited degenerative brain disorder that usually begins between ages 35 and 50 and progressively leads to physical impairment, dementia and death. A person whose mother or father developed Huntington’s disease has a 50-50 chance of getting the currently incurable disease. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-04-srm-diagnosis-huntington-disease.html Other Wed, 13 Apr 2011 11:03:17 EST news221911359 For years, researchers in genome stability have observed that several neurodegenerative diseases—including Huntington's disease—are associated with cell-killing proteins that are created during expansion of a CAG/CTG trinucleotide repeat. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-04-scientists-clue-degenerative-diseases.html Genetics Mon, 11 Apr 2011 09:55:32 EST news221734510 The study, which has been published in the scientific journal Cell Metabolism, shows significant changes in the brain's hormone control centre, the hypothalamus. In a series of experiments on mice, which had the mutated Huntington's protein injected into this area of their brains, the animals soon demonstrated a reduced ability to regulate their metabolism. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-04-discovery-weight-problems-huntington-disease.html Medical research Wed, 06 Apr 2011 12:36:12 EST news221312151