A target for Huntington's disease

The molecular basis for Huntington's disease (HD) is known to be associated with a polyglutamine repeat at the N-terminus of the huntingtin protein (Htt), which causes formation of protein aggregates in the brain and neurotoxicity. But researchers have not known how to prevent the aggregates from forming. Last week researchers published a link between an epigenetic enzyme target and Htt-associated neurotoxicity that could provide a target to prevent or treat the signs of the disease.

Researchers from the University of California at Irvine and colleagues published in Nature evidence that inhibitors of histone deacetylase reduced neurotoxicity in a fruit fly model of HD. Histone deacetylase is an enzyme that that reduces the level of acetylated DNA-associated histones, thereby reducing gene expression...