Science: a new strategy is expected to treat Huntington's chorea

October 22, 2019 / Biovalley BIOON / - -- in a new study, researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles, have identified a potential strategy that could prevent the disease and repair some of the damage it causes while exploring the role of astrocytes in Huntington's disease The relevant research results were published in the Journal of Science Translational Medicine on October 16, 2019, with the title of "astrocyte molecular signatures in Huntington's disease" Astrocytes (purple) carrying the mutant Huntington protein content (green) Some mutant Huntington protein inclusions are located inside astrocytes Picture from UCLA health Astrocytes interact with and support neurons and other brain cells Neurons will form synapses, so that they can communicate with each other and transmit information Although astrocytes outnumber neurons, little is known about how they interact with synapses The study found that Huntington's disease causes damage to astrocytes in the early stages of the disease, leading to neuropsychiatric symptoms as the disease progresses Huntington chorea is caused by mutations in the gene encoding Huntington protein (HTT) People with Huntington chorea experience depression, irritability, and other neurological and behavioral problems They may also have difficulty processing information and controlling body movements Baljit khakh, co-author of the paper and professor of physiology and neurobiology at UCLA School of medicine, said, "without knowing what happens to the cells (including astrocytes) that make up the brain, we probably can't understand brain diseases." A research team led by khakh has developed a method that allows scientists to observe the internal brain of mice so as to observe the effect of astrocytes on neuronal communication in real time (neuron, 2018, DOI: 10.1016 / j.neuron 2018.03.003) They were able to see how the interaction between synapses and astrocytes changed over time, and how it changed with the emergence of neurological diseases In the new study, the researchers observed the progression of Huntington's disease in brain samples from the dead and in live mice carrying mutations in the htt gene They found that by inhibiting the mutation in astrocytes, they were able to prevent disease progression in mice and repair damage that could only be observed when the cells were studied carefully "We think that if we can stop the disease from progressing in astrocytes and neurons, we may be able to restore activity in the brain to the level before the disease occurred," khakh said Blanca Diaz Castro, a former UCLA postdoctoral scholar and the first author of the paper, said that although the gene mutation is known to cause neuron death, it is the first time to study how the mutation affects astrocytes "We believe these findings will lead to further research on astrocytes in brain diseases," she said The new study also builds a database that can now be used to study astrocytes in many neurodegenerative diseases in the future Khakh said the findings add to growing evidence that damaged astrocytes play a role in many neurological diseases, such as Huntington chorea, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer's disease (BIOON Com) reference: 1 Blanca Diaz Castro et al Astrocyte molecular signatures in Huntington's disease Science Translational Medicine, 2019, doi:10.1126/scitranslmed.aaw8546 2.Study focuses on repair and reversal of damage caused by Huntington’s disease http://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/huntingtons-disease-reversal-repair