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Updated: Aug 17, 2026

Fractionation for Resolution of Soluble and Insoluble Huntingtin Species
Published on: February 27, 2018
Emerging chemotherapeutic strategies for Huntington's disease
1Boston University School of Medicine, Edith Nourse Rogers Veterans Administration Medical Center, Bedford, Massachusetts 01730, USA.
Insights
Huntington's disease (HD) is a fatal neurodegenerative disorder with no cure. Research explores targeting pathogenic mechanisms like protein aggregation and oxidative stress for potential pharmacotherapies.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Genetics
- Pharmacology
Background:
- Huntington's disease (HD) is a progressive, fatal neurodegenerative disorder.
- It is caused by an expanded CAG repeat in the huntingtin gene.
- Currently, no clinically proven treatments exist for HD.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review potential pharmacotherapies for Huntington's disease.
- To understand the interrelation of pathogenic mechanisms in HD.
- To identify drug candidates for clinical trials.
Main Methods:
- Review of drug compounds targeting specific pathogenic mechanisms in HD.
- Analysis of studies on HD transgenic mouse models.
- Discussion of compounds suitable for human clinical trials.
Main Results:
- Several drug compounds targeting individual pathogenic mechanisms show promise.
- These compounds have improved clinical and neuropathological phenotypes in HD mouse models.
- Identified compounds are candidates for human clinical trials.
Conclusions:
- Targeting specific pathogenic pathways offers a viable strategy for HD treatment.
- Further research and clinical trials are warranted for promising drug candidates.
- Understanding HD pathogenesis is crucial for developing effective therapies.
Abstract:
Huntington's disease (HD) is a progressive and fatal neurological disorder caused by an expanded CAG repeat in the gene coding for the protein, huntingtin. There is no clinically proven treatment for HD. Although the exact cause of neuronal death in HD remains unknown, it has been postulated that the abnormal aggregation of the mutant huntingtin protein may cause toxic effects in neurons, leading to a cascade of pathogenic mechanisms associated with transcriptional dysfunction, oxidative stress, mitochondrial alterations, apoptosis, bioenergetic defects and subsequent excitotoxicity. Understanding how these processes interrelate has become important in identifying a pharmacotherapy in HD and in the design of clinical trials. A number of drug compounds that separately target these mechanisms have significantly improved the clinical and neuropathological phenotype of HD transgenic mice and, as such, are immediate candidates for human clinical trials in HD patients. These compounds are discussed herein.
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