Research Institutions
Part 3

Recent HD Research: Where the Action Is

III. The Search for Treatments

Massachusetts General Hospital

• Tested coenzyme Q10 as a potential treatment for HD, and found that the drug can extend patients’ lives and delay the onset of symptoms.
• Performed an inconclusive clinical trial of riluzole, a drug that had been shown to improve motor abnormalities in HD-afflicted baboons. Investigations of riluzole continue.

National Institutes of Aging (NIA)

• Recently found that periods of fasting decreased the symptoms of HD in mice. Low-calorie diets and reduced meal frequency can both delay the onset of HD and slow down the spread of the disease.

University of South Florida Center for Aging and Brain Repair

• Found that people whose diets are rich in antioxidants age slower because antioxidants block the free radicals that cause body function to decline.
• Successfully slowed aging in the brain by implanting stem cells from human umbilical cord blood.
• Discovered that when fetal tissue is implanted in the brains of HD patients, the new tissue remains free of HD.

Stanford University

• Challenged the relationship between protein aggregates and HD with the discovery that drugs such as cystamine can reduce the symptoms of HD without affecting aggregates.

Weill College of Medicine at Cornell University

• Conducted key research on potential HD treatments such as coenzyme Q10 and creatine.

Last Modified: 04/12/2007

An educational product of HOPES, not to be used in place of medical care. For more information about HOPES, click on the Logo. To contact HOPES with comments or questions, click here.