Huntington's Disease

Huntington’s Disease

• Huntington’s Disease is often abbreviated as HD.
• Huntington’s Disease “affects the part of the brain that controls thinking, emotion and movement. Most people who have the disease start to see symptoms between the ages of 30 and 50. Some symptoms include poor memory, depression, mood swings, lack of coordination, twitching, etc.” (“Huntington’s” 1).
• Huntington’s Disease is inherited in an “autosomal dominant pattern. This means that everyone who inherits the faulty gene will eventually get the disease… HD is caused by a mutation in a gene on chromosome 4. The job of its protein product, huntingtin, is to direct the delivery of small packages to the outside of the cell. Normally the coding region of this gene contains the DNA sequence “CAG”… People with HD have an abnormally high number of the CAG triplets, approximately 40 or more (normal is 10 to 26 times)” (“Huntington’s” 1)
•  There is no cure for Huntington’s Disease. Even any treatments that have been found do not slow the progression of the disease. Instead, they help make the patient more comfortable. Some possible “treatments” are medications and physical or speech therapy.
• In the United States, about 1 in every 30,000 people has Huntington’s disease.