Huntington’s disease, a hereditary and fatal genetic disorder, may flow from defects in glia, important support cells found in the brain, a new study shows.
Huntington’s has long been considered a neuronal disease due to the permanent loss of medium spiny motor neurons, the death of which over time is responsible for the clinical hallmarks of the disease: involuntary movements, problems with coordination, cognitive decline, depression, and psychosis.
The new findings expand understanding of the underlying mechanisms of the disease, and reinforce the potential of therapies that target glia cells.
Years of research in the lab of Steve Goldman, a neurologist at the University of Rochester Medical Center, have shown that the two populations of glia found in the brain—astrocytes and oligodendrocytes—are dysfunctional in Huntington’s disease, and may trigger much of the neuronal pathology seen in the disease….