Huntington's Disease and Stem Cell Therapies

Huntington's Disease is a genetic autosomal dominant disorder clinically characterized by progressive neural degeneration. The disease involves a trinucleotide repeat disorder of the huntingtin (htt) gene on chromosome 4 that results in abnormal movements, dementia, and psychiatric syndromes . Treatment with human umbilical cord stem cells can prolong the life of animal models of Huntington's disease. Plans are now in process to test cord stem cells transfected with the normal htt gene on animal models of Huntington's Disease. Treatments can also be improved with growth factors such as BDNF, CNTF, neurturin and/or neurotrophins. For more information on Huntington's Disease, click here.