Healthy tips, updates, information and news feeds for patients and families of the Dartmouth Medical Center.
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Huntington's Disease Update
Scientists claim to have made Huntington's disease breakthrough.
NBC Nightly News (5/10, story 8, 2:30, Williams) reported that since the death of her mother, "Dr. Nancy Wexler has" been obsessed with "Huntington's disease, a horrible, inherited brain disorder that destroys the mind and the body." After her mother was diagnosed in 1968, she came to understand that "she and her sister Alice" had "a 50% chance of inheriting the disease." So, "her father Milton, a psychoanalyst, started a foundation," which "Dr. Wexler now heads to try to find a cure." Now, through his work with mice, "foundation-supported researcher Dr. William Yang," of UCLA, has "discovered how to shut down" a specific "gene so the Huntington's is cured." Dr. Wexler added, "It really dramatically cures the mice and gives us a lead about new therapy."
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