WSU Researchers reveal Huntington's disease affects skeletal muscle as well as neurons

Huntington's disease (HD) is a progressive and fatal genetic disorder characterized by severe motor and cognitive defects. The disease is caused by an expansion of CAG repeats in the Huntingtin gene. As a result, the disease symptoms are caused by some combination of the mutated huntingtin protein, toxic huntingtin RNA, and the extra glutamines encoded by the CAG repeats. Most studies of HD have focused on the central nervous system and the motor defects are widely considered to be the result of neurodegeneration. The laboratory of Dr. Andrew Voss in the Wright State University Department of