Huntington Disease

Huntington disease is a serious neurodegenerative disorder resulting from an expanded CAG repeat in a specific gene on chromosome 4. The highly specific mutation allows accurate diagnostic and predictive testing; our increasing understanding of how the expanded polyglutamine sequence in the protein huntingtin causes neuronal damage gives promise for the development of effective future therapies. Huntington disease provides a valuable model for many genetic aspects of late-onset inherited disorders.

Keywords: Huntington disease; CAG repeat; polyglutamine repeat; huntingtin; predictive testing

 Further Reading
    book Bates G, Harper PS and Jones AL (eds.) (2002) Huntington's Disease. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
    Bloch M, Adam S, Wiggins S, Huggins M and Hayden MR (1992) Predictive testing for Huntington disease in Canada: the experience of those receiving an increased risk. American Journal of Medical Genetics 42: 499–507.
    Codori AM and Brandt J (1994) Psychological costs and benefits of predictive testing for Huntington disease. American Journal of Medical Genetics (Neuropsychiatric Genetics) 54: 174–184.
    Durbach N and Hayden M (1993) George Huntington: the man behind the eponym. Journal of Medical Genetics 30: 406–409.
    Harper PS (1992) Huntington disease and the abuse of genetics. American Journal of Human Genetics 50: 460–464.
    book Harper PS (ed.) (1996) Huntington's Disease. London, UK: WB Saunders.
    Harper PS, Lim C and Craufurd D (2000) Ten years of presymptomatic testing for Huntington's disease: the experience of the UK Huntington's Disease Prediction Consortium. Journal of Medical Genetics 37: 567–571.
    book Harper PS and Perutz M (eds.) (2001) "Glutamine Repeats and Neurodegenerative Diseases: Molecular Aspects". Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
    Huntington G (1872) On chorea. Medical and Surgical Reporter 26: 320–321.
    Huntington Disease Collaborative Research Group (1993) A novel gene containing a trinucleotide repeat that is expanded and unstable in Huntington disease chromosomes. Cell 72: 971–983.
    Mangiarini L, Sathasivam K, Seller M, et al. (1996) Exon 1 of the HD gene with an expanded CAG repeat is sufficient to cause a progressive neurological phenotype in transgenic mice. Cell 87: 493–506.
    proceedings Perutz MF, Johnson T, Suzuki M and Finch JT (1994) Glutamine repeats as polar zippers: their possible role in inherited neurodegenerative disease. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 91: 355–3787.
 Web Links
    ePath HD(huntingtin); LocusID: 3064. LocusLink: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/LocusLink/list.cgi?Q=143100&ORG=Hs&V=0
    ePath HD(huntingtin); MIM number: 143100. OMIM: http://www3.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/htbin-post/Omim/dispmim?143100
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How to Cite close
Harper, Peter S(Jul 2006) Huntington Disease. In: eLS. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester. http://www.els.net [doi: 10.1038/npg.els.0005150]