scholarly journals Huntington's Disease: An Immune Perspective

2011 ◽  
Vol 2011 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annapurna Nayak ◽  
Rafia Ansar ◽  
Sunil K. Verma ◽  
Domenico Marco Bonifati ◽  
Uday Kishore
Keyword(s):  
Huntington's Disease ◽  
Huntington’S Disease ◽  
Neurodegenerative Disorder ◽  
Typical Feature ◽  
Trinucleotide Repeats ◽  
Mutant Huntingtin Protein ◽  
Unexplored Area ◽  
Cag Trinucleotide Repeats ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Abnormal Expansion

Huntington's disease (HD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that is caused by abnormal expansion of CAG trinucleotide repeats. Neuroinflammation is a typical feature of most neurodegenerative diseases that leads to an array of pathological changes within the affected areas in the brain. The neurodegeneration in HD is also caused by aberrant immune response in the presence of aggregated mutant huntingtin protein. The effects of immune activation in HD nervous system are a relatively unexplored area of research. This paper summarises immunological features associated with development and progression of HD.

scholarly journals Insights into kinetics, release, and behavioral effects of brain-targeted hybrid nanoparticles for cholesterol delivery in Huntington’s disease

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giulia Birolini ◽  
Marta Valenza ◽  
Ilaria Ottonelli ◽  
Alice Passoni ◽  
Monica Favagrossa ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Huntington's Disease ◽  
Huntington’S Disease ◽  
Neurodegenerative Disorder ◽  
Polymeric Nanoparticles ◽  
Cholesterol Biosynthesis ◽  
Hybrid Nanoparticles ◽  
Neural Cells ◽  
Peripheral Tissues ◽  
Brain Cholesterol ◽  
The Brain

AbstractSupplementing brain cholesterol is emerging as a potential treatment for Huntington’s disease (HD), a genetic neurodegenerative disorder characterized, among other abnormalities, by inefficient brain cholesterol biosynthesis. However, delivering cholesterol to the brain is challenging due to the bloodbrain barrier (BBB), which prevents it from reaching the striatum, especially, with therapeutically relevant doses.Here we describe the distribution, kinetics, release, and safety of novel hybrid polymeric nanoparticles made of PLGA and cholesterol which were modified with an heptapeptide (g7) for BBB transit (hybrid-g7-NPs-chol). We show that these NPs rapidly reach the brain and target neural cells. Moreover, deuterium-labeled cholesterol from hybrid-g7-NPs-chol is released in a controlled manner within the brain and accumulates over time, while being rapidly removed from peripheral tissues and plasma. We confirm that systemic and repeated injections of the new hybrid-g7-NPs-chol enhanced endogenous cholesterol biosynthesis, prevented cognitive decline, and ameliorated motor defects in HD animals, without any inflammatory reaction.In summary, this study provides insights about the benefits and safety of cholesterol delivery through advanced brain-permeable nanoparticles for HD treatment.

scholarly journals Non-Cell Autonomous and Epigenetic Mechanisms of Huntington’s Disease

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (22) ◽  
pp. 12499
Author(s):  
Chaebin Kim ◽  
Ali Yousefian-Jazi ◽  
Seung-Hye Choi ◽  
Inyoung Chang ◽  
Junghee Lee ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Huntington's Disease ◽  
Huntington’S Disease ◽  
Trinucleotide Repeat ◽  
Neurodegenerative Disorder ◽  
Involuntary Movement ◽  
Therapeutic Approaches ◽  
Exon 1 ◽  
Human Chromosome 4 ◽  
The Brain

Huntington’s disease (HD) is a rare neurodegenerative disorder caused by an expansion of CAG trinucleotide repeat located in the exon 1 of Huntingtin (HTT) gene in human chromosome 4. The HTT protein is ubiquitously expressed in the brain. Specifically, mutant HTT (mHTT) protein-mediated toxicity leads to a dramatic degeneration of the striatum among many regions of the brain. HD symptoms exhibit a major involuntary movement followed by cognitive and psychiatric dysfunctions. In this review, we address the conventional role of wild type HTT (wtHTT) and how mHTT protein disrupts the function of medium spiny neurons (MSNs). We also discuss how mHTT modulates epigenetic modifications and transcriptional pathways in MSNs. In addition, we define how non-cell autonomous pathways lead to damage and death of MSNs under HD pathological conditions. Lastly, we overview therapeutic approaches for HD. Together, understanding of precise neuropathological mechanisms of HD may improve therapeutic approaches to treat the onset and progression of HD.

scholarly journals Implications of the Orb2 Amyloid Structure in Huntington’s Disease

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (18) ◽  
pp. 6910
Author(s):  
Rubén Hervás ◽  
Alexey G. Murzin ◽  
Kausik Si
Keyword(s):  
Huntington's Disease ◽  
Huntington’S Disease ◽  
Autosomal Dominant ◽  
Neurodegenerative Disorder ◽  
Structural Data ◽  
Cag Repeat ◽  
Functional Amyloid ◽  
Drosophila Brain ◽  
Structural Insight ◽  
The Brain

Huntington’s disease is a progressive, autosomal dominant, neurodegenerative disorder caused by an expanded CAG repeat in the huntingtin gene. As a result, the translated protein, huntingtin, contains an abnormally long polyglutamine stretch that makes it prone to misfold and aggregating. Aggregation of huntingtin is believed to be the cause of Huntington’s disease. However, understanding on how, and why, huntingtin aggregates are deleterious has been hampered by lack of enough relevant structural data. In this review, we discuss our recent findings on a glutamine-based functional amyloid isolated from Drosophila brain and how this information provides plausible structural insight on the structure of huntingtin deposits in the brain.

Huntington's disease CAG trinucleotide repeats in pathologically confirmed post-mortem brains

1994 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 159-166 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesca Persichetti ◽  
Jayalakshmi Srinidhi ◽  
Lisa Kanaley ◽  
Pei Ge ◽  
Richard H. Myers ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Huntington's Disease ◽  
Huntington’S Disease ◽  
Trinucleotide Repeats ◽  
Post Mortem ◽  
Cag Trinucleotide Repeats

scholarly journals A novel imaging ligand as a biomarker for mutant huntingtin-lowering in Huntington's disease

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniele Bertoglio ◽  
Jonathan Bard ◽  
Manuela Hessmann ◽  
Longbin Liu ◽  
Annette Gaertner ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Huntington's Disease ◽  
Huntington’S Disease ◽  
Neurodegenerative Disorder ◽  
Therapeutic Interventions ◽  
Non Invasive ◽  
Positron Emission ◽  
Trinucleotide Expansion ◽  
Imaging Markers ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Polyq Tract

Huntington's disease (HD) is a dominantly inherited neurodegenerative disorder caused by a CAG trinucleotide expansion in the huntingtin (HTT) gene that encodes the pathologic mutant HTT (mHTT) protein with an expanded polyglutamine (PolyQ) tract. While several therapeutic programs targeting mHTT expression have advanced to clinical evaluation, no method is currently available to visualize mHTT levels in the living brain. Here we demonstrate the development of a positron emission tomography (PET) imaging radioligand with high affinity and selectivity for mHTT aggregates. This small molecule radiolabeled with 11C ([11C]CHDI-180R) enables non-invasive monitoring of mHTT pathology in the brain and can track region- and time-dependent suppression of mHTT in response to therapeutic interventions targeting mHTT expression. We further show that therapeutic agents that lower mHTT in the striatum have a functional restorative effect that can be measured by preservation of striatal imaging markers, enabling a translational path to assess the functional effect of mHTT lowering.

Sporadic Huntington’s disease in the Philippines: a case report

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurence Kristoffer J Batino ◽  
John Hiyadan ◽  
Debbie Liquete ◽  
Manolo Flores
Keyword(s):  
Huntington's Disease ◽  
Huntington’S Disease ◽  
Cognitive Deficits ◽  
Neurodegenerative Disorder ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Behavioral Changes ◽  
Personality Changes ◽  
History Of ◽  
Cag Trinucleotide Repeats ◽  
Possible Cause

Huntington’s disease (HD) is an autosomal dominant neurodegenerative disorder with core clinical features of choreoathetosis, cognitive deficits and behavioral changes. It is a rare disorder, primarily affecting the Caucasian population, and rarely Asians. To date, there are only two reported, genetically proven familial HD cases in the Philippines. We present the case of a 39-year-old Filipino male with a 10-year history of progressive behavior and personality changes followed by cognitive decline and choreoathetotic movements. Neuroimaging showed atrophy of both caudate and putamen with putaminal rim sign. Genetic testing revealed a 47 CAG trinucleotide repeats in the Huntingtin gene; family history is negative. This is the first, genetically proven, sporadic and the third HD case in the Philippines. Despite its rarity, this report highlights the importance of including HD as a possible cause of adult-onset chorea among Filipinos.

scholarly journals How Do Post-Translational Modifications Influence the Pathomechanistic Landscape of Huntington’s Disease? A Comprehensive Review

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (12) ◽  
pp. 4282 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beata Lontay ◽  
Andrea Kiss ◽  
László Virág ◽  
Krisztina Tar
Keyword(s):  
Huntington's Disease ◽  
Huntington’S Disease ◽  
Neurodegenerative Disorder ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Regulation Of Gene Expression ◽  
Post Translational Modifications ◽  
Cell Functions ◽  
Cellular Events ◽  
Mutant Huntingtin Protein

Huntington’s disease (HD) is an autosomal dominant inherited neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the loss of motor control and cognitive ability, which eventually leads to death. The mutant huntingtin protein (HTT) exhibits an expansion of a polyglutamine repeat. The mechanism of pathogenesis is still not fully characterized; however, evidence suggests that post-translational modifications (PTMs) of HTT and upstream and downstream proteins of neuronal signaling pathways are involved. The determination and characterization of PTMs are essential to understand the mechanisms at work in HD, to define possible therapeutic targets better, and to challenge the scientific community to develop new approaches and methods. The discovery and characterization of a panoply of PTMs in HTT aggregation and cellular events in HD will bring us closer to understanding how the expression of mutant polyglutamine-containing HTT affects cellular homeostasis that leads to the perturbation of cell functions, neurotoxicity, and finally, cell death. Hence, here we review the current knowledge on recently identified PTMs of HD-related proteins and their pathophysiological relevance in the formation of abnormal protein aggregates, proteolytic dysfunction, and alterations of mitochondrial and metabolic pathways, neuroinflammatory regulation, excitotoxicity, and abnormal regulation of gene expression.

scholarly journals iNKT Cell Activation Exacerbates the Development of Huntington’s Disease in R6/2 Transgenic Mice

2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyun Jung Park ◽  
Sung Won Lee ◽  
Wooseok Im ◽  
Manho Kim ◽  
Luc Van Kaer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Immune System ◽  
Huntington's Disease ◽  
Huntington’S Disease ◽  
Cell Activation ◽  
Inflammatory Responses ◽  
Neurodegenerative Disorder ◽  
Inkt Cells ◽  
Regulatory T Lymphocytes ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Invariant Natural Killer

Huntington’s disease (HD) is an inherited neurodegenerative disorder which is caused by a mutation of the huntingtin (HTT) gene. Although the pathogenesis of HD has been associated with inflammatory responses, if and how the immune system contributes to the onset of HD is largely unknown. Invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells are a group of innate-like regulatory T lymphocytes that can rapidly produce various cytokines such as IFNγ and IL4 upon stimulation with the glycolipid α-galactosylceramide (α-GalCer). By employing both R6/2 Tg mice (murine HD model) and Jα18 KO mice (deficient in iNKT cells), we investigated whether alterations of iNKT cells affect the development of HD in R6/2 Tg mice. We found that Jα18 KO R6/2 Tg mice showed disease progression comparable to R6/2 Tg mice, indicating that the absence of iNKT cells did not have any significant effects on HD development. However, repeated activation of iNKT cells with α-GalCer facilitated HD progression in R6/2 Tg mice, and this was associated with increased infiltration of iNKT cells in the brain. Taken together, our results demonstrate that repeated α-GalCer treatment of R6/2 Tg mice accelerates HD progression, suggesting that immune activation can affect the severity of HD pathogenesis.

scholarly journals Genetic deletion of S6k1 does not rescue the phenotypic deficits observed in the R6/2 mouse model of Huntington’s disease

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Elaine E. Irvine ◽  
Loukia Katsouri ◽  
Florian Plattner ◽  
Hind Al-Qassab ◽  
Rand Al-Nackkash ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mouse Model ◽  
Huntington's Disease ◽  
Huntington’S Disease ◽  
Neurodegenerative Disorder ◽  
Mammalian Target Of Rapamycin ◽  
Protein Aggregate ◽  
Beneficial Effects ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Signalling Molecule ◽  
Mutant Huntingtin Protein

Abstract Huntington’s disease (HD) is a fatal inherited autosomal dominant neurodegenerative disorder caused by an expansion in the number of CAG trinucleotide repeats in the huntingtin gene. The disease is characterized by motor, behavioural and cognitive symptoms for which at present there are no disease altering treatments. It has been shown that manipulating the mTOR (mammalian target of rapamycin) pathway using rapamycin or its analogue CCI-779 can improve the cellular and behavioural phenotypes of HD models. Ribosomal protein S6 kinase 1 (S6K1) is a major downstream signalling molecule of mTOR, and its activity is reduced by rapamycin suggesting that deregulation of S6K1 activity may be beneficial in HD. Furthermore, S6k1 knockout mice have increased lifespan and improvement in age-related phenotypes. To evalute the potential benefit of S6k1 loss on HD-related phenotypes, we crossed the R6/2 HD model with the long-lived S6k1 knockout mouse line. We found that S6k1 knockout does not ameliorate behavioural or physiological phenotypes in the R6/2 mouse model. Additionally, no improvements were seen in brain mass reduction or mutant huntingtin protein aggregate levels. Therefore, these results suggest that while a reduction in S6K1 signalling has beneficial effects on ageing it is unlikely to be a therapeutic strategy for HD patients.

scholarly journals Cell Reprogramming to Model Huntington’s Disease: A Comprehensive Review

Cells ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 1565
Author(s):  
Ruth Monk ◽  
Bronwen Connor
Keyword(s):  
Huntington's Disease ◽  
Huntington’S Disease ◽  
Neurodegenerative Disorder ◽  
Cag Repeat ◽  
Cell Reprogramming ◽  
Medium Spiny Neurons ◽  
High Throughput Drug Screening ◽  
Mutant Huntingtin Protein ◽  
Neurological Conditions

Huntington’s disease (HD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the progressive decline of motor, cognitive, and psychiatric functions. HD results from an autosomal dominant mutation that causes a trinucleotide CAG repeat expansion and the production of mutant Huntingtin protein (mHTT). This results in the initial selective and progressive loss of medium spiny neurons (MSNs) in the striatum before progressing to involve the whole brain. There are currently no effective treatments to prevent or delay the progression of HD as knowledge into the mechanisms driving the selective degeneration of MSNs has been hindered by a lack of access to live neurons from individuals with HD. The invention of cell reprogramming provides a revolutionary technique for the study, and potential treatment, of neurological conditions. Cell reprogramming technologies allow for the generation of live disease-affected neurons from patients with neurological conditions, becoming a primary technique for modelling these conditions in vitro. The ability to generate HD-affected neurons has widespread applications for investigating the pathogenesis of HD, the identification of new therapeutic targets, and for high-throughput drug screening. Cell reprogramming also offers a potential autologous source of cells for HD cell replacement therapy. This review provides a comprehensive analysis of the use of cell reprogramming to model HD and a discussion on recent advancements in cell reprogramming technologies that will benefit the HD field.

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