Huntington's Disease
This web page was produced as an assignment for Biol 4321, an undergraduate special topic course at MGA.
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About Huntington's Disease (HD)
05/01/2018 Huntington’s disease (HD) is an autosomal dominant fatal genetic disorder that causes the progressive breakdown of nerve cells in the brain. It deteriorates a person’s physical and mental abilities during their prime working years and has no cure. It is also known as a "trinucleotide disorder" (Meyers, 2006). HD is known as the quintessential family disease because every child of a parent with HD has a 50/50 chance of carrying the faulty gene. Today, there are approximately 30,000 symptomatic Americans and more than 200,000 at-risk of inheriting the disease. Symptoms include; amnesia, delusion, lack of concentration, memory loss, mental confusion, slowness in activity, impaired cognitive thinking and understanding which usually appear between the ages of 30 to 50, and worsen over a 10 to 25 year period. Everyone has the gene that causes HD, but only those that inherit the expansion of the gene will develop HD and perhaps pass it on to each of their children. Every person who inherits the expanded HD gene will eventually develop the disease. Over time, HD affects the individual’s ability to reason, walk and speak.
Huntington's disease is named after George Huntington, who described it among residents of East Hampton, Long Island in 1872. In 1993, a collaborative group of investigators discovered the gene that causes HD (John Hopkins Medicine). |
References:
Meyers, R. H. (2006, March 3). Huntington's Disease Genetics. NeuroRX, 1(2), 255-262.
https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/psychiatry/specialty_areas/huntingtons_disease/patient_family_resources/education_whatis.html
Meyers, R. H. (2006, March 3). Huntington's Disease Genetics. NeuroRX, 1(2), 255-262.
https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/psychiatry/specialty_areas/huntingtons_disease/patient_family_resources/education_whatis.html
