Research reveals ‘ticking DNA clock’ behind Huntington’s disease

The Top Line

Huntington’s disease was long thought to be caused by the slow buildup of a toxic protein, but new research has revealed that it’s actually driven by the expansion of a gene that, at a certain length, triggers quick neuron death.

In this week’s episode of The Top Line, we hear from Steven McCarroll, Ph.D., a Huntington’s disease researcher at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, whose team recently published that research in the journal Cell. McCarroll joins Fierce Biotech’s Darren Incorvaia to dig into the findings, which not only change our understanding of the disease itself, but also open up new avenues for potential treatments.

To learn more about the topics in this episode:

• New findings shed light on cause of Huntington's disease progression

• Scientists look to survival secrets of plants for Huntington's treatments

• Scientists use long-approved GSK HIV drug to stave off dementia, Huntington's proteins in mice

• Sage drops dalzanemdor as Huntington's failure completes clean sweep of midphase flops

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