Research focuses on alleviating symptoms of Huntington’s Disease

The disease is best known for its physical symptoms, the dance-like movements known as chorea. However, the psychiatric and emotional symptoms, along with cognitive decline, are particularly distressing for patients and their families.

Dr Jenny Morton of the Department of Pharmacology has been awarded a £1.1m grant from the High Q Foundation, a non-profit organization with the mission of bringing together academia, industry, governmental agencies, and other funding organizations in the search for Huntington's Disease (HD)treatments.

The £1.1m grant will further previous work done in Dr Morton's laboratory to identify specific abnormalities in the function of the HD brain. It will also continue research into potential drugs to restore the cognitive, social and sleep deficits caused by the disease.

Dr Morton said: "I am very grateful for the support of High Q to further my research into HD. HD is a devastating illness, and advances in its treatment are more likely if systematic research on all aspects of the disease is conducted."

Huntington's Disease is a familial disease, passed from parent to child through a mutation in a gene. Each child of a HD parent has a 50-50 chance of inheriting the HD gene which causes programmed degeneration of brain cells and results in emotional disturbance, loss of intellectual faculties and uncontrolled movements.

Most people with HD develop the symptoms at midlife but in some patients, onset occurs in infancy or old age. The average survival time after onset is fifteen to twenty years. It is estimated that about one in every 10,000 persons has the HD gene. At this time, there is no way to stop or reverse the course of HD.