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Huntington's Disease Linked to Reduced Cancer Risk in Study
Posted 11 Apr 2012 by Drugs.com
WEDNESDAY, April 11 – People who have Huntington's disease are much less likely to develop cancer than people without the inherited disorder, according to a new study that suggests the diseases share a common genetic mechanism. The Swedish researchers found that those with Huntington's had a 53 percent lower risk of being diagnosed with cancer compared to the general population. Besides Huntington's disease, the lower cancer risk applies to the other eight rare neurodegenerative disorders known as polyglutamine (polyQ) diseases. Those diseases, which result in the progressive degeneration of neurons involved in motor control, include spinobulbar muscular atrophy (also known as Kennedy's disease); dentatorubral-pallidoluysian atrophy; and six types of spinocerebellar ataxia. From 1969 through 2008, the researchers identified 1,510 patients with Huntington's disease; 471 people with ... Read more
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New Drug Shows Promise Against Huntington's Disease
Posted 8 Nov 2011 by Drugs.com
MONDAY, Nov. 7 – An investigational drug called pridopidine seems an effective and safe treatment for people with the progressive movement disorder Huntington's disease, researchers report. Huntington's patients have an imbalance in the signaling chemical dopamine. The new drug stabilizes dopamine signaling in areas of the brain that control movement and coordination. According to the study authors, this is the first drug shown to improve patients' loss of ability to move their muscles voluntarily. The only drug currently approved for Huntington's is tetrabenazine, which treats only involuntary movements and can cause serious side effects. The results of the phase 3 clinical trial, conducted by Spanish researchers led by Dr. Justo Garcia de Yebenes, of the department of neurology, Hospital Ramon y Cajal in Madrid, appear in the Nov. 7 online edition of The Lancet Neurology. The study ... Read more
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New Drugs Eyed for Huntington's Disease
Posted 28 Jul 2010 by Drugs.com
WEDNESDAY, July 28 – Enzymes associated with Huntington's disease may offer targets for the development of new drugs to treat the neurodegenerative disease, a new study suggests. These enzymes, called matrix metalloproteinases(MMPs), play a role in the breakdown of proteins that modify the production of toxic fragments that contribute to Huntington's disease, said researchers at the Buck Institute for Age Research in California. Previous research has shown that MMPs respond to new cancer drugs currently under development. "We've found a target that has known drugs for cancer treatment that could possibly have significance for HD," Dr. Lisa Ellerby said in a Buck Institute news release. "MMPs are also involved in stroke, inflammation and many neurological processes; we expect a lot of scientific attention to now be focused on this important class of proteases." The study appears in the ... Read more
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Drug May Ease Cognitive Effects of Huntington's
Posted 9 Feb 2010 by Drugs.com
TUESDAY, Feb. 9 – An experimental drug may improve thinking, learning and memory skills in people with Huntington's disease, an inherited neurodegenerative disorder, new research says. Huntington's affects movement, behavior and cognitive abilities, and people with the disease usually die within 10 to 30 years of its onset. Cognitive problems begin early in the disease and increase as Huntington's progresses, leading to the inability to work or perform normal daily activities. Currently, the only approved therapy for Huntington's is tetrabenazine, which treats movement problems but does not prevent cognitive decline or change the course of the disease. In the new study, researchers assessed the safety and tolerability of a new drug with the proposed generic name latrepirdine, in people with mild to moderate Huntington's disease. The drug stabilizes and improves the function of ... Read more
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Compounds Identified That Might Treat Nerve Diseases
Posted 19 Jan 2010 by Drugs.com
TUESDAY, Jan. 19 – Researchers report that they've developed a new way to find compounds that could become treatments for degenerative nerve disorders such as Alzheimer's, Huntington's and Parkinson's diseases. The diseases cause proteins in nerve cells known as neurons to "misfold." In the new research, scientists say they've found molecules that play a role in the body's efforts to "chaperone" the molecules that fix the broken proteins. The scientists studied one of the molecules and used rat neurons to show that it does indeed serve as a protective chaperone. Research in fruit flies showed the same thing. Researchers say the study could lead to treatments that manipulate the chaperone molecules, leading to repair of the broken proteins. "We found a creative way to identify new molecules that can activate the body's natural protein-folding machinery," senior author Dennis J. Thiele, ... Read more
Related support groups: Parkinson's Disease, Alzheimer's Disease, Huntington's Disease
Scientists Find Molecular Switch Related to Huntington's
Posted 25 Dec 2009 by Drugs.com
THURSDAY, Dec. 24 – Researchers are reporting that they've discovered a molecular switch that appears to play a role in whether Huntington's disease develops in mice. An estimated one out of every 10,000 Americans suffer from Huntington's disease, which is hereditary and disrupts a person's ability to walk, talk, think clearly and even swallow. There's currently no way to prevent the disease, which typically leads to death within 10 years of diagnosis, or to keep it from worsening, the study authors noted. Scientists have found that a mutation in a protein called huntingtin causes the disease to develop. But there's still plenty of mystery about how that happens. "It's unclear how the mutant protein causes age-related and progressive loss of brain cells in patients with Huntington's disease," X. William Yang, an associate professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at the Semel ... Read more
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