Just a quick note to point out what appears to be promising news on the HD research front:

From Chemical & Engineering News (am I really linking to an ACS site? you bet…)

“Working with mutant fruit flies, the researchers found that accumulation of the abnormal huntingtin within presynaptic neurons increases levels of Ca2+ in the neurons. The extra calcium induces the presynaptic neurons to release excess neurotransmitters, which contributes to the development of the disease (Neuron 2008, 57, 27).

[…]

The results also suggest that treatments could be developed to delay the onset and progression of the disease. Examples include compounds that would modulate neurotransmission or that would block the membrane pores through which calcium enters neurons."

Let’s remember the HD gene was patented in the 1980s. And we still don’t even know how it relates to the disease, and this research is coming out of the fruit fly world…so it’s probably a long way from a treatment. At current rates, it’d be something in the year 2025.

Knowledge gaps, people. Knowledge gaps.