New brain scan tool could help treat Huntington’s disease, a devastating genetic condition

New brain scan tool could help expose a devastating and incurable genetic condition

Huntington’s disease is an inherited condition that gradually robs people of their ability to move, speak and even think clearly—there is no cure

About 8,000 people in the U.K. are living with Huntington’s disease, a devastating inherited condition that gradually affects movement, thinking and mood. Now, an advanced type of MRI scan could give researchers a way to estimate the cellular damage it causes in living people, which could eventually help show whether treatments are working.

New research from my colleagues and I found that the technique can detect abnormalities in the brains of people living with Huntington’s that match those previously identified by examining brain tissue after death.

Huntington’s disease is an inherited condition caused by a faulty gene. Its effects usually begin between the ages of 30 and 50. There is currently no cure, although new cell and gene therapies are being developed and tested.

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One of the main things that happens in Huntington’s is the loss of neuronal cells in the striatum, a part of the basal ganglia deep within the brain. These structures are important for controlling movement and other functions. As cells are lost, the brain tissue in these regions shrinks.

We can see this shrinkage using conventional MRI. But a standard brain scan tells us relatively little about what is happening inside the tissue at a cellular level. That’s where our approach comes in.