Huntington’s Disease News and Research

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Shire and Sangamo revise agreement to expedite development of ZFP Therapeutics for Huntington's disease, hemophilia A and B

Sangamo BioSciences, Inc., a leader in therapeutic genome editing, announced today that the company and its collaborator, Shire plc, have agreed to revise their January 2012 collaboration and license agreement to expedite the development of ZFP Therapeutics for hemophilia A and B and Huntington's disease.

2 Sep 2015

Huntington’s disease prevention breakthrough? An interview with Professor Lesley Jones

Huntington’s disease is an inherited disease which, whilst quite rare, is one of the more common inherited neurodegenerative diseases. About 1 in 6,000 people in the UK are at risk and what’s horrible about this disease is that if one of your parents has it, then you have a fifty-fifty chance of inheriting it.

2 Sep 2015

NYBC, UC Davis Health System partner to manufacture potential stem cell therapies

New York Blood Center today announced a new collaboration with the University of California, Davis, Health System to manufacture specialized lines of stem cells as potential therapies for repair and regeneration of retina, kidney, lung and liver tissue, as well as for the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and Huntington's disease.

20 Aug 2015

CMU BrainHub scientists use non-invasive brain-imaging tool to detect basal ganglia pathways

Certain diseases, like Parkinson's and Huntingdon's disease, are associated with damage to the pathways between the brain's basal ganglia regions. The basal ganglia sits at the base of the brain and is responsible for, among other things, coordinating movement. It is made up of four interconnected, deep brain structures that imaging techniques have previously been unable to visualize.

18 Aug 2015

Determining the dynein-dynactin complex structure: an interview with Dr Gabriel C. Lander

This is a macromolecular assembly is made up of two components, dynein and dynactin, that works to move molecular cargo (organelles, RNA, vesicles, proteins, viruses) along microtubule highways within our cells.

16 Aug 2015

Researchers report role of two gene-regulating molecules in Parkinson's disease

As Parkinson's disease progresses in patients, a puzzling dichotomy plays out in their brains. One set of neurons degenerates, while a similar population nearby is spared the same degree of damage. Why the difference? An answer to this question could clear the way for preventions and treatments for this disease, which impairs movement.

11 Aug 2015

Discovery may lead to new ways to diagnose, treat brain cancer

Researchers at the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute have uncovered a link between the genomes of cells originating in the neural crest and development of tumors — a discovery that could lead to new ways to diagnose and treat cancer.

6 Aug 2015

Redox equilibrium may help identify new diagnostic biomarkers for ageing, neurodegenerative processes

The question of why we age is one of the most fascinating questions for humankind, but nothing close to a satisfactory answer has been found to date.

3 Aug 2015

DNA study reveals potential treatments to delay or prevent onset of Huntington's disease

Scientists from Cardiff University believe that a treatment to prevent or delay the symptoms of Huntington’s disease could now be much closer, following a major breakthrough.

31 Jul 2015

Study sheds light on certain antagonist drugs that block physiological responses

Members of the Consolidated Research Group of Molecular Neurobiology of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of the University of Barcelona (UB), affiliated with the Centre for Networked Biomedical Research on Neurodegenerative Diseases (CIBERNED), have published a study in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) about the formation of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) which allows understanding the unexpected behaviour of some antagonists that block physiological responses.

30 Jul 2015

New finding could help change pharmaceutical treatment of neurodegenerative diseases

Diseases like Alzheimer's are caused when proteins aggregate and clump together. In a world first, EPFL scientists have successfully distinguished between the disease-causing aggregation forms of proteins.

28 Jul 2015

Low-dose lithium lowers involuntary motor movements in mouse model of Parkinson's disease

Low-dose lithium reduced involuntary motor movements - the troubling side effect of the medication most commonly used to treat Parkinson's disease (PD) - in a mouse model of the condition that is diagnosed in about 60,000 Americans each year. The third in a series of studies from the Andersen lab involving PD and low-dose lithium, the results add to mounting evidence that low-doses of the psychotropic drug could benefit patients suffering from the incurable, degenerative condition.

28 Jul 2015

Lupin signs strategic asset purchase agreement with Temmler

Pharma Major Lupin Limited today announced that it has entered into a strategic asset purchase agreement with TEMMLER PHARMA GMBH & CO. KG, a part of the Aenova Group, one of the world's largest pharmaceutical contract manufacturers, to acquire Temmler's specialty product portfolio subject to certain closing conditions.

25 Jul 2015

ALCF to honor Fred R. Hirsch with 2015 Addario Lectureship Award for lung cancer research

The Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation will honor Fred R. Hirsch, M.D., Ph.D., with the 2015 Addario Lectureship Award for his continued leadership and expertise in lung cancer treatment and research. Dr. Hirsch, CEO of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer, will receive the award at the 16th International Lung Cancer Congress held on July 30 – August 1 in Huntington Beach, California.

25 Jul 2015

Researchers use gene-editing technique involving low-dose irradiation to repair human stem cells

For the first time, researchers have employed a gene-editing technique involving low-dose irradiation to repair patient cells, according to a study published in the journal Stem Cells Translational Medicine. This method, developed by researchers in the Cedars-Sinai Board of Governors Regenerative Medicine Institute, is 10 times more effective than techniques currently in use.

23 Jul 2015

Dartmouth researchers perform first total syntheses of compounds involved in rapid cell death in leukemia

Dartmouth researchers and their colleagues have carried out the first total syntheses of certain compounds involved in excessive cell death in leukemia.

22 Jul 2015

Research shows how prion-like proteins critical for maintaining long-term memories

Research from Eric Kandel's lab at Columbia University Medical Center has uncovered further evidence of a system in the brain that persistently maintains memories for long periods of time. And paradoxically, it works in the same way as mechanisms that cause mad cow disease, kuru, and other degenerative brain diseases.

3 Jul 2015

ASHG declares 2015 recipients of annual Award for Excellence in Human Genetics Education

The American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) has named Robert L. Nussbaum, M.D., chief medical officer of invitae and clinical professor of medicine (volunteer) at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF); Roderick R. McInnes, CM, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Lady Davis Institute at the Jewish General Hospital and Alva chair in human genetics, Canada Research chair in neurogenetics, and professor of human genetics and biochemistry at McGill University; and Huntington F. Willard, Ph.D., president and director of the Marine Biological Laboratory and professor of human genetics at the University of Chicago; as the 2015 recipients of its annual Award for Excellence in Human Genetics Education.

1 Jul 2015

TSRI scientists find five different miRNAs involved in memory formation

Scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have found that a type of genetic material called “microRNA” plays surprisingly different roles in the formation of memory in animal models. In some cases, these RNAs increase memory, while others decrease it.

30 Jun 2015

Imperial College London researchers discover new inherited form of obesity, type 2 diabetes

Scientists have discovered a new inherited form of obesity and type 2 diabetes in humans. A large number of genes are involved in regulating body weight, and there are now over 30 genes known in which people with harmful changes in DNA sequence become extremely overweight. Similarly, there are a number of genes that can, when altered, cause type 2 diabetes. These conditions are inherited through families in exactly the same way as disorders such as cystic fibrosis or Huntington's disease.