Huntington's disease affects
approximately 1/10,000 of
the general population. The genetic cause is a flaw in
chromosome 4. In the
normal case there are 4-35
repeats of the
CAG sequence.
The number of CAG repeats directly affects the severity of the disease.
Individuals with a higher number of extra repeats usually experience earlier
onset of symptoms.
Successes in some Animal studies involving fetal tissue transplant into the
striatum suggested a possibility that transplant treatments might be effective
in humans. Several early attempts included some positive reports, however
there had been no proper or rigorous protocols developed or completed.
Studies with complete and agreed protocols are now in progress. Research has
also been performed in porcine tissue transplants.
Huntington's researchers are also engaging in drug discovery methods,
looking at both gene therapy methods and means to either inhibit the
malfunction of the damaged huntingtin protein or help the body to fight
the problem.
References:
http://www.hdfoundation.org/news/200101022irvine.html
http://www.hdfoundation.org/news/200201Steinman.html
http://www.hdfoundation.org
http://www.cf.ac.uk/biosi/staff/dunnett/hdprog.html
http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/~rd13/hd/hsg.html