Huntington's Disease Linked To Overactive Immune Response In The Brain

Huntington's disease is characterized by loss of motor control and cognitive functions, as well as by depression or other psychiatric problems. A set of two teams when researched about this disease found out that in both brain cells and the bloodstream suggesting an important link between the immune system's response and Huntington's disease. Jointly, the findings helped scientists find biological markers for monitoring the disease sequence earlier and with more accurateness, and could help them develop new treatments for the disease. Huntington's is a fatal inherited neurodegenerative disorder for which there is at present no successful treatment.

A team lead by Dr. Thomas Moeller, research associate professor of neurology, had earlier studied the task of inflammation and immune reaction in neurodegenerative illness like Huntington's and ALS, also identified as Lou Gehrig's disease. In this study, they found that patients with Huntington's had superior levels of immune-system signaling molecules, called cytokines, in their brain tissue.

The researchers then looked at a mouse-based model of the ailment, studying the reaction of microglia, the immune cells of the nervous system. When the microglia is treated with a molecule triggering an immune response, the microglia from Huntington's mice produced much higher levels of cytokines, the immune system molecules. That discovery suggests that the protein produced by the Huntington's disease genetic mutation, a protein called Huntington, is causing the immune cells to be overactive. The researchers think that overly strong immune response may be the instrument through which the disease causes damage to neurons in the brain.

Inflammation in the brain has been gradually more conventional as a significant module in other neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's or Parkinson's disease. This result might open the door to novel therapeutic approaches for Huntington's disease that aims at inflammation.

The team at University College London focused their work on immune cells in the bloodstream, and found similar results concerning the disease to the body's immune reaction. The protein could be causing harm through an unusually overactive immune system in both the blood and the brain. While damage from Huntington's is characteristically seen in the brain, this new pathway is quite easy to distinguish in the blood of patients, so we may have found a unique window from the blood into what the disease is doing in the brain.



The immune response in the blood may also help researchers use immune-system molecules as biological markers for the disease, which can be difficult to diagnose in early stages. Better tracking of Huntington's disease progression may help researchers to fine-tune interventions aimed at slowing the disease before it has affected as much brain tissue.

An over active immune response in the bloodstream and the brain may cause the same kind of damage to brain tissue as is seen in Huntington's disease, two research teams from the University of Washington in Seattle and University College London have discovered. The two separate studies unearth evidence in both brain cells and the bloodstream, suggesting a significant connection between the immune system's response and Huntington's disease. It is very important for the mind to function properly and often even a minor neurological problem can create problems for a lifetime.

• Emma Bullock
• 01/04/2009, 4:59 AM
• 0 Comments