Huntington's disease: new paths to pathogenesis.

Abstract

Huntington's disease is a progressive autosomal dominant neurodegenerative disorder caused by expansion of a CAG repeat coding for polyglutamine in the huntingtin protein. A recent report suggests a new mechanism involving altered interactions with a protein involved in axonal transport, leading to loss of neurotrophic factor transport. This suggests an intriguing convergence to previously described pathways implicating neurotrophin transcription in HD pathogenesis.