| Biomarkers for Huntingtons Disease report by Lisa J. Bain
Abstract:
A group of 17 scientists met in Playa Del Rey, California in June, 2001 to discuss biomarkers for Huntington's disease. Biomarkers would facilitate accurate evaluation of the effectiveness of new therapies and improve the safety and efficiency of clinical trials. The ideal biomarker should be readily obtained from extraneural tissue such as blood or urine. Levels should correlate with disease progression and response to treatment. Biomarkers may also be measurable using imaging techniques such as positron emission tomography (PET), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMRS). Cognitive testing may also provide relevant markers. Animal and human studies of biomarkers must be run in parallel and compared with each other in order to take advantage of advances being made in animal models to understand the mechanisms of disease. A protocol was designed for comparing human subjects who are gene negative to those who are gene positive asymptomatic and gene positive symptomatic. A possible new therapeutic approach using histone deacetylase inhibitors was discussed, highlighting the need for biomarkers in the drug development process.
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