Huntington’s researchers provide new insight into disease mechanism

Written by Frances Waller

Researchers from Rice University (TX, USA), have used computational analyses to identify how protein fragments and protein fibrils contribute to the Huntington’s disease (HD) disease mechanism. Previous studies have demonstrated the influence of N-terminal fragments in disease pathology and amyloidal structure formation, which the new study supports, offering hope for new drug approaches targeting N-terminal binding. HD manifests from a mutation in the Huntington gene, causing repeat expansion in the polyglutamine (polyQ) tract of the Huntingtin (HTT) protein. Fibrillar aggregation occurs when the expansion of polyglutamine surpasses its threshold length of 36 repeats. In this latest study, recently published in...

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