Huntington's linked to metabolism
Thursday 7th April 2011
People with Huntington's disease could be more likely to be obese, a new study investigating the relationship between the disorder and metabolism has suggested.
Researchers injected mice with the Huntington's protein and reported immediately seeing an effect, with the animals eating a lot more and becoming significantly obese.
This indicates that people with the condition could have difficulty regulating their metabolism, according to research published in journal Cell Metabolism.
Lund University researcher Asa Petersen said: "We have now been able to prove that there is a causal relationship between this mutated protein in the hypothalamus and weight gain. The changes we see in the mice's brains are similar to those we have previously observed in the brains of Huntington’s patients."
This comes after a research breakthrough in protein folding by researchers at Stanford University, which could play a major role in the development of new treatments for Huntington's and other debilitating diseases.
Written by Angela Newbury
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