KeyNeurotek discovery could lead to HD cure

Germany-based, KeyNeurotek has published new data in the on-line version of the US Journal of Biological Chemistry, on what it claims are important new insights into the molecular causes of Huntington's disease.

Researchers at KeyNeurotek say that the httexpQ protein, created by a mutation in the so-called huntingtin gene which is thought to cause Huntington's, specifically targets certain transport proteins of brain mitochondria. This led them to believe that httexpQ-induced inhibition of substrate influx and neuronal energy generation severely impairs brain mitochondria and causes a sequence of events which are crucially involved in the progression of the disease.

"These findings for the first time not only provide a new basis for the understanding of Huntington's disease, but also for the development of a causal treatment," said Frank Gellerich, lead author of the study.