Results of the study were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States, June 13, 2006.
"This could be an important step toward a disease modifying therapy," says co-author Jeffrey H. Kordower, PhD, director of the Research Center for Brain Repair at Rush. "We could potentially be stopping the disease process in its tracks, delaying symptoms from ever showing up."
Huntington's disease is an inherited degenerative disease that progressively robs patients of the ability to think, judge appropriately, control their emotions and perform coordinated tasks. HD typically begins in mid-life, between the ages of 40 and 50. There is no effective treatment or cure for this fatal illness that affects 30,000 Americans and places another 75,000 at risk.
Kordower says this research, if eventually applied to humans, could help those who have HD or, due to the presence of a genetic test, are known to be destined to get HD.
"Each child of an affected parent has a 50 percent risk for inheriting the disease. Genetic testing can identify mutated gene carriers destined to suffer from HD. Unlike other neurodegenerative disorders, identification of the genetic markers provides a unique opportunity to intercede therapeutically before or extremely early in the disease processonly a small fraction of potential carriers get tested. But, if there was a treatment, especially one that altered the natural course of disease, potentially halting it, we would hope every potential patient would get tested so they could avail themselves
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Contact: Mary Ann Schultz
mary_ann_schultz@rush.edu
312-942-7816
Rush University Medical Center
12-Jun-2006