New Huntington clue

Mutant forms of huntingtin protein have long been known to play a role in Huntington's chorea, but the exact molecular mechanism of the disease is still far from being understood. French scientists think they have identified a crucial mechanism and that tacrolimus, a marketed drug, may be able to interfere with this process.

While studying the mechanism that leads to neural death in Huntington's patients, Frederic Saudou and his group at the Institut Curie in Paris discovered that phosphorylation at serine 412 in mutant huntingtin can slow disease progression in vivo. This means that compounds enhancing phosphorylation are of therapeutic interest...