Huntington's Disease Study

Huntington's disease is an inherited neurodegenerative disorder. It is passed on to children from one or both parents (though two parents with Huntington's is extraordinarily rare) in an autosomal dominant manner. This is different from autosomal recessive disorder, which requires two altered genes (one from each parent) to inherit the disorder.

Huntington's Disease is a genetic autosomal disorder which effects the brain. It affects about 1 in 20,000 individuals. The symptoms of the disease do not start to occur until after or around 40 years of age. With the onset of the disease the patient starts to gradually deteriorate intellectually, this deterioration also causes involuntary movements. Scientists have only recently found the section of the gene which causes Huntington's disease, and this is allowed them to devise pre-symptomatic tests. However, a cure for the disease is yet to be found.

Huntington's Disease (HD) is an autosomal dominant, progressive, neurodegenerative disorder (Walker, 2007 and Harmon, 2007). The gene that causes the disease is located on the fourth chromosome and causes an abnormal number of repeats in the patient's genetic code (Harmon, 2007). Huntington's Disease can have devastating effects on patients' quality of life. The first symptoms of HD generally start between the ages of 30 and 45 and patients are typically asymptomatic prior to this time (Terrenoire, 1992 and Walker, 2007). However, the disease progresses with subtle changes in motor control, personality, and cognition. Patients eventually develop distinct

Huntington’s disease is a neurodegenerative disorder that slowly breaks down somatic tissues. This degeneration causes a mass amount of chorea, change in mental functioning, change in behavior, decreased memory, along with other serious psychological problems. Since the mechanism of the disease is still not fully understood, there is no cure for the disease, but there are several therapies and medications available. All of the medication and treatment available only help to manage symptoms; they are just stalling the progression of the symptoms but not the overall disease.

It is a disease that progressively breaks down the nerves in the brain. The genetic mutation that underlies the disease is in chromosome 4. The gene codes for the huntingtin protein, which makes up about 6% of the DNA in cells (Genetic Home Reference). This mutation deals with the trinucleotide repeat of the cytosine-adenine-guanine (CAG) sequence. This sequence repeat can repeat up to 40 times to be considered normal, but after this sequence repeats more than 41 times then it is considered Huntington's disease. Huntington’s protein can form inclusions seen in both the cytoplasm and the nucleus (Suchowersky). These inclusions are correlated with neuronal cell death, which occurs within the nerves. Interestingly, Huntington protein seems to be very important for early development (Suchowersky), but in high concentrations appears to become toxic especially to nerve cells. Overall, Huntington’s disease has a very intense effect on the body and behavior

Huntington’s Disease is an inherited disease of the brain where the nerve cells break down over time. Huntington’s disease can also be called HD or Huntington’s Chorea, due to over 90% of patients having Chorea as well as HD. Chorea is an abnormal body movement disorder, which affects people with HD when it comes to muscle spasms, and involuntary movements. HD is a very rare disease, fewer than 200,000 cases in the U.S. per year. If an immediate family member has HD, you have a 1 in 2 (50%) chance of inheriting the disease. After the condition appears, patient usually lives for 15 to 18 years, HD is a guaranteed death. HD can cause cognitive amnesia, memory loss, behavioral issues (irritability, lack of restraint, etc.), psychological problems (delirium, depression, paranoia, etc.), anxiety, apathy, mood swings, and many more.

Huntington disease is defined by the autosomal pattern that is in inheritance with high penetrance of high proportion of the population that has the gene that advances the disease. It’s typical that Huntington disease is caused by the loss of neurons nerve cells in the brain (Van Walsem M.R, 2016).

Huntington’s disease (or Huntington’s chorea) is a hereditary degenerative disease that affects the cerebral cortex and basal ganglia. It is a progressive brain disease that targets the ability to move, loss of the ability to think, and emotional problems. The most common form of Huntington’s is adult onset, appearing in the thirties or forties. As the disease advances,

Huntington’s disease is a progressive, degenerative disease like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. It is characterized by tremors, uncontrolled movements, emotional issues, and cognitive problems or loss of the ability to think properly. The mutation of the huntingtin protein causes brain cell death that directly influences mood changes and mental problems. Diagnosis of HD uses different methods to determine HD symptoms and mutation of the relevant protein.

The first step in identifying the Huntingtin gene was to use pedigrees of affected families to establish that Huntington’s disease as an autosomal dominant inheritance pattern [79]. Over 100 scientists were involved in the following 10 year Huntington’s

Huntington’s is a hereditary disease. A crucial part of the diagnosis process is to take a family history. The most efficient way to determine if the individual has this disease would be a DNA determination, showing a CAG repeat of at least 36 on the huntingtin gene that is located on chromosome 4. In most cases, the three main signs of this disease is present in the individuals. More studies are known to use biomarkers to determine the parameter’s as well. More studies are starting to focus on changes in function and changes in the brain images by the use of an MRI. Earlier we stated on how a prominent sign of this disease would be motor dysfunctions, such as chorea. Chorea is due to neurological damage in the brain resulting in altered gait.

HD which was previously known as Huntington's chorea, after the Greek word for dancing. This is because the related movements with condition

Huntington's Disease Society of America state, "Huntington's disease is a genetic disorder that causes the breakdown of nerve cells in the brain. It ruins a person's physical and mental abilities during their prime working years." Huntington's is known as the a family disease because every child of a parent

Huntington’s disease is an autosomal dominant disorder in which cells of the brain deteriorate and eventually die. The disease does not currently have a cure. Currently, there are researchers studying the effects of mutations and possible ways to silence them. Antisense therapy provides a form of treatment for genetic disorders or infections. If a certain genetic sequence is known to cause a particular disease, the nucleic strand can be synthesized to bind to the messenger RNA (mRNA) produced to the gene to inactivate and thus silence the gene. Upon the expansion of the CAG tract in the huntingtin gene (HTT), a toxic huntingtin protein (HTT) forms with an elongated polyglutamine tract. Wild-type HTT is quite critical during the during early

Huntington’s disease is a brain disorder, which is passed down from one generation to the next through irregular genes. Children who have parents suffering from Huntington’s disease have a 50% chance of having the gene that can later develop into the disease. The irregular genes are caused by a copying error in which a part of the gene is copied too many times. The disease slowly kills brain cells and causes a gradual progression in symptoms. Symptoms include things such as psychosis, hallucinations, involuntary movements, difficulty understanding things and confusion. In the early stages of Huntington’s disease symptoms are manageable, however as it progresses symptoms worsen and individuals can suffer memory loss and personality changes.