{"id":18705,"date":"2026-08-18T12:28:02","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T06:58:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=18705"},"modified":"2026-08-18T13:35:45","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T08:05:45","slug":"huntingtons-disease","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/huntingtons-disease\/","title":{"rendered":"Huntington&#8217;s Disease"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><b>Huntington&#8217;s Disease Latest News<\/b><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">New treatments for Huntington&#8217;s disease could be on the horizon following research led by scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, United States.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>About Huntington&#8217;s Disease<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is a <\/span><b>progressive neurodegenerative disorder <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">that changes brain functioning over time.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is a <\/span><b>rare hereditary disorder<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in which <\/span><b>brain cells, or neurons<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, in certain areas of your brain start to <\/span><b>break down.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The destruction of nerve cells <\/span><b>happens in the basal ganglia,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> or the region of your brain that <\/span><b>regulates your body\u2019s movements.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It also affects the<\/span><b> brain cortex <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(surface of your brain) that <\/span><b>regulates your thinking,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> decision-making, and memory.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As the neurons degenerate, the disease can <\/span><b>lead to emotional disturbances, loss of intellectual abilities,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><b>uncontrolled movements.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>What causes <\/b><b>Huntington&#8217;s Disease?<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A <\/span><b>genetic mutation of the HTT gene <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">causes HD.<\/span><b> If one of your parents has HD, you have a 50% chance <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">of also developing it.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The HTT gene makes a protein called huntingtin. The exact function of this protein is not yet known, but researchers believe it plays a role in supporting the function of nerve cells in the brain.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you have HD, your DNA doesn\u2019t have all the information needed to make the huntingtin protein.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As a result, these proteins grow in an abnormal shape and destroy your neurons.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Your neurons die because of this genetic mutation.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>How common is HD?<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">HD affects an estimated 3 to 7 out of every 100,000 people, <\/span><b>most often people of European ancestry <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(biological family comes from European descent).<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Huntington&#8217;s Disease <\/b><b>Symptoms<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">HD symptoms can begin at any age but u<\/span><b>sually first appear <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">between the <\/span><b>ages of 30 and 50 years.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">About <\/span><b>5-10% <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">of people have symptoms before age 20 <\/span><b>(Juvenile HD)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and 10% have onset after age 60 (late onset).\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Common symptoms<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> include <\/span><b>uncontrollable dance-like movements (chorea) <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and <\/span><b>abnormal body postures,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> as well as <\/span><b>problems with behavior, emotion,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> thinking, and personality.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Other symptoms may include <\/span><b>tremor <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(unintentional back-and-forth movement in the person\u2019s muscles) and <\/span><b>unusual eye movements.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The eye movements can happen early in the disease.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These symptoms <\/span><b>get worse over time.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As HD progresses, you will <\/span><b>need constant assistance and supervision<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> because of the debilitating nature of the disease.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Huntington&#8217;s Disease <\/b><b>Treatment<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There is <\/span><b>no cure<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for HD.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Medicines <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">can help manage some of the symptoms, but<\/span><b> cannot slow down or stop the disease.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>People usually die <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">from the disease <\/span><b>within 15 to 20 years<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of developing symptoms.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>News: <\/b><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/medicalxpress.com\/news\/2026-08-huntington-disease-discovery-door-class.html#google_vignette\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">MED<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Huntington&#8217;s Disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that changes brain functioning over time. Read more about Huntington&#8217;s Disease, Causes, Symptoms, Treatment, Latest News.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":60438,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2306],"class_list":["post-18705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","tag-huntingtons-disease","no-featured-image-padding"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18705"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18705\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":119793,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18705\/revisions\/119793"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}