Source: US News & World Report
“Huntington’s disease is a devastating, fatal neurological illness with little means of treatment, but a new study in mice offers a glimmer of hope. Huntington’s occurs when inherited genes cause key proteins to fold and clump together within brain cells. Over time, this severely hampers brain function and patients lose the ability to talk, walk, swallow and focus. There’s no cure, and the illness is typically fatal within a decade or two of symptom onset. However, new research in mice is investigating the utility of ‘peptide-brush polymers’ as treatment. The peptides involved in the therapy are naturally occurring proteins that may block the lethal clumping of Huntington’s-associated proteins within brain cells.” (11/04/24)