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Hanrahan J, Locke DP, Cahill LS. Magnetic Resonance Imaging to Detect Structural Brain Changes in Huntington's Disease: A Review of Data from Mouse Models. J Huntingtons Dis 2024:JHD240045. [PMID: 39213087 DOI: 10.3233/jhd-240045] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/04/2024]
Abstract
Structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a powerful tool to visualize 3D neuroanatomy and assess pathology and disease progression in neurodegenerative disorders such as Huntington's disease (HD). The development of mouse models of HD that reproduce many of the psychiatric, motor and cognitive impairments observed in human HD has improved our understanding of the disease and provided opportunities for testing novel therapies. Similar to the clinical scenario, MRI of mouse models of HD demonstrates onset and progression of brain pathology. Here, we provided an overview of the articles that used structural MRI in mouse models of HD to date, highlighting the differences between studies and models and describing gaps in the current state of knowledge and recommendations for future studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jenna Hanrahan
- Department of Chemistry, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
| | - Drew P Locke
- Department of Chemistry, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
| | - Lindsay S Cahill
- Department of Chemistry, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
- Discipline of Radiology, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
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Hwang YS, Jo S, Kim GH, Lee JY, Ryu HS, Oh E, Lee SH, Kim YS, Chung SJ. Clinical and Genetic Characteristics Associated With Survival Outcome in Late-Onset Huntington's Disease in South Korea. J Clin Neurol 2024; 20:394-401. [PMID: 38627228 PMCID: PMC11220345 DOI: 10.3988/jcn.2023.0329] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/24/2023] [Revised: 10/29/2023] [Accepted: 11/12/2023] [Indexed: 07/03/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The onset of Huntington's disease (HD) usually occurs before the age of 50 years, and the median survival time from onset is 15 years. We investigated survival in patients with late-onset HD (LoHD) (age at onset ≥60 years) and the associations of the number of mutant CAG repeats and age at onset (AAO) with survival in patients with HD. METHODS Patients with genetically confirmed HD at six referral centers in South Korea between 2000 and 2020 were analyzed retrospectively. Baseline demographic, clinical, and genetic characteristics and the survival status as at December 2020 were collected. RESULTS Eighty-seven patients were included, comprising 26 with LoHD (AAO=68.77±5.91 years, mean±standard deviation; 40.54±1.53 mutant CAG repeats) and 61 with common-onset HD (CoHD) (AAO=44.12±8.61 years, 44.72±4.27 mutant CAG repeats). The ages at death were 77.78±7.46 and 53.72±10.86 years in patients with LoHD and CoHD, respectively (p<0.001). The estimated survival time was 15.21±2.49 years for all HD patients, and 10.74±1.95 and 16.15±2.82 years in patients with LoHD and CoHD, respectively. More mutant CAG repeats and higher AAO were associated with shorter survival (hazard ratio [HR]=1.05, 95% confidence interval [CI]=1.01-1.09, p=0.019; and HR=1.17, 95% CI=1.03-1.31, p=0.013; respectively) for all HD patients. The LoHD group showed no significant factors associated with survival after disease onset, whereas the number of mutant CAG repeats had a significant effect (HR=1.12, 95% CI=1.01-1.23, p=0.034) in the CoHD group. CONCLUSIONS Survival after disease onset was shorter in patients with LoHD than in those with CoHD. More mutant CAG repeats and higher AAO were associated with shorter survival in patients with HD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yun Su Hwang
- Department of Neurology, Jeonbuk National University Medical School and Hospital, Jeonju, Korea
- Research Institute of Clinical Medicine of Jeonbuk National University-Biomedical Research Institute of Jeonbuk National University Hospital, Jeonju, Korea
| | - Sungyang Jo
- Department of Neurology, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea
| | - Gu-Hwan Kim
- Medical Genetic Center, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea
| | - Jee-Young Lee
- Department of Neurology, Seoul Metropolitan Government-Seoul National University Boramae Medical Center, Seoul National University Medical College, Seoul, Korea
| | - Ho-Sung Ryu
- Department of Neurology, Kyungpook National University Hospital, Daegu, Korea
| | - Eungseok Oh
- Department of Neurology, Chungnam National University Hospital, Daejeon, Korea
| | - Seung-Hwan Lee
- Department of Neurology, Kangwon National University Hospital, Chuncheon, Korea
| | - Young Seo Kim
- Department of Neurology, Wonkwang University School of Medicine, Iksan, Korea
| | - Sun Ju Chung
- Department of Neurology, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
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Gil‐Salcedo A, Massart R, de Langavant LC, Bachoud‐Levi A. Modifiable factors associated with Huntington's disease progression in presymptomatic participants. Ann Clin Transl Neurol 2024; 11:1930-1941. [PMID: 38855890 PMCID: PMC11251488 DOI: 10.1002/acn3.52120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/17/2024] [Accepted: 05/26/2024] [Indexed: 06/11/2024] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Huntington's disease (HD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by progressive motor, cognitive, and psychiatric symptoms. Our aim here was to identify factors that can be modified to slow disease progression even before the first symptoms appear. METHODS We included 2636 presymptomatic individuals (comparison with family controls) drawn from the prospective observational cohort Enroll-HD, with more than 35 CAG repeats and at least two assessments of disease progression measured with the composite Huntington's disease rating Scale (cUHDRS). The association between sociodemographic factors, health behaviors, health history, and cUHDRS trajectory was assessed with a mixed-effects random forest using partial dependence plots and Shapley additive explanation method. RESULTS Participants were followed by an average of 3.4 (SD = 1.97) years. We confirmed the negative impact of age and a high number of CAG repeats. We found that a high level of education, a body mass index (BMI) <23 kg/m2 before the age of 40 and >23 kg/m2 thereafter, alcohol consumption of <15 units per week, current coffee consumption and no smoking were linked to slow disease progression, as did no previous exposure to antidepressants or anxiolytic, no psychiatric history or comorbidities, and being female. Other comorbidities or marital status showed no major association with HD evolution. INTERPRETATION Reducing modifiable risk factors for HD is one way to support the presymptomatic population. A high level of education, low-to-moderate alcohol consumption, no smoking, and BMI control are likely to slow disease progression in this population.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andres Gil‐Salcedo
- Département d'Études Cognitives, École Normale SupérieurePSL UniversityParis75005France
- Faculté de MédecineUniversité Paris‐Est CréteilCréteil94000France
- Inserm U955, Institut Mondor de Recherche Biomédicale, Équipe NeuroPsychologie InterventionnelleCréteil94000France
- NeurATRIS, Mondor NodeCréteilFrance
| | - Renaud Massart
- Département d'Études Cognitives, École Normale SupérieurePSL UniversityParis75005France
- Faculté de MédecineUniversité Paris‐Est CréteilCréteil94000France
- Inserm U955, Institut Mondor de Recherche Biomédicale, Équipe NeuroPsychologie InterventionnelleCréteil94000France
- NeurATRIS, Mondor NodeCréteilFrance
| | - Laurent Cleret de Langavant
- Département d'Études Cognitives, École Normale SupérieurePSL UniversityParis75005France
- Faculté de MédecineUniversité Paris‐Est CréteilCréteil94000France
- Inserm U955, Institut Mondor de Recherche Biomédicale, Équipe NeuroPsychologie InterventionnelleCréteil94000France
- NeurATRIS, Mondor NodeCréteilFrance
- APHP, Hôpital Henri Mondor, service de neurologie, centre national de référence maladie de HuntingtonCréteil94000France
| | - Anne‐Catherine Bachoud‐Levi
- Département d'Études Cognitives, École Normale SupérieurePSL UniversityParis75005France
- Faculté de MédecineUniversité Paris‐Est CréteilCréteil94000France
- Inserm U955, Institut Mondor de Recherche Biomédicale, Équipe NeuroPsychologie InterventionnelleCréteil94000France
- NeurATRIS, Mondor NodeCréteilFrance
- APHP, Hôpital Henri Mondor, service de neurologie, centre national de référence maladie de HuntingtonCréteil94000France
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Wang X, Li Y, Li B, Shang H, Yang J. Gray matter alterations in Huntington's disease: A meta-analysis of VBM neuroimaging studies. J Neurosci Res 2024; 102:e25366. [PMID: 38953592 DOI: 10.1002/jnr.25366] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/21/2024] [Revised: 05/16/2024] [Accepted: 06/16/2024] [Indexed: 07/04/2024]
Abstract
Increasing neuroimaging studies have attempted to identify biomarkers of Huntington's disease (HD) progression. Here, we conducted voxel-based meta-analyses of voxel-based morphometry (VBM) studies on HD to investigate the evolution of gray matter volume (GMV) alterations and explore the effects of genetic and clinical features on GMV changes. A systematic review was performed to identify the relevant studies. Meta-analyses of whole-brain VBM studies were performed to assess the regional GMV changes in all HD mutation carriers, in presymptomatic HD (pre-HD), and in symptomatic HD (sym-HD). A quantitative comparison was performed between pre-HD and sym-HD. Meta-regression analyses were used to explore the effects of genetic and clinical features on GMV changes. Twenty-eight studies were included, comparing a total of 1811 HD mutation carriers [including 1150 pre-HD and 560 sym-HD] and 969 healthy controls (HCs). Pre-HD showed decreased GMV in the bilateral caudate nuclei, putamen, insula, anterior cingulate/paracingulate gyri, middle temporal gyri, and left dorsolateral superior frontal gyrus compared with HCs. Compared with pre-HD, GMV decrease in sym-HD extended to the bilateral median cingulate/paracingulate gyri, Rolandic operculum and middle occipital gyri, left amygdala, and superior temporal gyrus. Meta-regression analyses found that age, mean lengths of CAG repeats, and disease burden were negatively associated with GMV atrophy of the bilateral caudate and right insula in all HD mutation carriers. This meta-analysis revealed the pattern of GMV changes from pre-HD to sym-HD, prompting the understanding of HD progression. The pattern of GMV changes may be biomarkers for disease progression in HD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xi Wang
- Department of Neurology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
| | - Yuming Li
- Department of Radiology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
| | - Boyi Li
- Department of Neurology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
| | - Huifang Shang
- Department of Neurology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
| | - Jing Yang
- Department of Neurology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
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Barrett MJ, Negida A, Mukhopadhyay N, Kim JK, Nawaz H, Jose J, Testa C. Optimizing Screening for Intrastriatal Interventions in Huntington's Disease Using Predictive Models. Mov Disord 2024; 39:855-862. [PMID: 38465778 PMCID: PMC11102310 DOI: 10.1002/mds.29749] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2023] [Revised: 01/09/2024] [Accepted: 02/02/2024] [Indexed: 03/12/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Intrastriatal delivery of potential therapeutics in Huntington's disease (HD) requires sufficient caudate and putamen volumes. Currently, volumetric magnetic resonance imaging is rarely done in clinical practice, and these data are not available in large research cohorts such as Enroll-HD. OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to investigate whether predictive models can accurately classify HD patients who exceed caudate and putamen volume thresholds required for intrastriatal therapeutic interventions. METHODS We obtained and merged data for 1374 individuals across three HD cohorts: IMAGE-HD, PREDICT-HD, and TRACK-HD/TRACK-ON. We imputed missing data for clinical variables with >72% non-missing values and used the model-building algorithm BORUTA to identify the 10 most important variables. A random forest algorithm was applied to build a predictive model for putamen volume >2500 mm3 and caudate volume >2000 mm3 bilaterally. Using the same 10 predictors, we constructed a logistic regression model with predictors significant at P < 0.05. RESULTS The random forest model with 1000 trees and minimal terminal node size of 5 resulted in 83% area under the curve (AUC). The logistic regression model retaining age, CAG repeat size, and symbol digit modalities test-correct had 85.1% AUC. A probability cutoff of 0.8 resulted in 5.4% false positive and 66.7% false negative rates. CONCLUSIONS Using easily obtainable clinical data and machine learning-identified initial predictor variables, random forest, and logistic regression models can successfully identify people with sufficient striatal volumes for inclusion cutoffs. Adopting these models in prescreening could accelerate clinical trial enrollment in HD and other neurodegenerative disorders when volume cutoffs are necessary enrollment criteria. © 2024 The Authors. Movement Disorders published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew J. Barrett
- Department of Neurology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA
| | - Ahmed Negida
- Department of Neurology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA
| | - Nitai Mukhopadhyay
- Department of Biostatistics, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA
| | - Jin K. Kim
- Department of Neurology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA
| | - Huma Nawaz
- Department of Neurology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA
| | - Jefin Jose
- Department of Neurology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA
| | - Claudia Testa
- Department of Neurology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
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Shin C, Kim R, Yoo D, Oh E, Moon J, Kim M, Lee JY, Kim JM, Koh SB, Kim M, Jeon B. A Practical Guide for Clinical Approach to Patients With Huntington's Disease in Korea. J Mov Disord 2024; 17:138-149. [PMID: 38467449 PMCID: PMC11082599 DOI: 10.14802/jmd.24040] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/19/2024] [Revised: 03/08/2024] [Accepted: 03/12/2024] [Indexed: 03/13/2024] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Chaewon Shin
- Department of Neurology, Chungnam National University Sejong Hospital, Sejong, Korea
- Department of Neurology, Chungnam National University College of Medicine, Daejeon, Korea
| | - Ryul Kim
- Department of Neurology, SMG-SNU Boramae Medical Center, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea
| | - Dallah Yoo
- Department of Neurology, Kyung Hee University Hospital, Kyung Hee University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea
| | - Eungseok Oh
- Department of Neurology, Chungnam National University College of Medicine, Daejeon, Korea
- Department of Neurology, Chungnam National University Hospital, Daejeon, Korea
| | - Jangsup Moon
- Department of Neurology, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea
- Department of Genomic Medicine, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, Korea
| | - Minkyeong Kim
- Department of Neurology, Gyeongsang National University Hospital, Jinju, Korea
| | - Jee-Young Lee
- Department of Neurology, SMG-SNU Boramae Medical Center, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea
| | - Jong-Min Kim
- Department of Neurology, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seongnam, Korea
| | - Seong-Beom Koh
- Department of Neurology, Korea University Guro Hospital, Korea University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea
| | - Manho Kim
- Department of Neurology, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea
| | - Beomseok Jeon
- Department of Neurology, BJ Center for Comprehensive Parkinson Care and Rare Movement Disorders, Chung-Ang University Health Care System, Hyundae Hospital, Namyangju, Korea
| | - on behalf of the Korean Huntington’s Disease Society
- Department of Neurology, Chungnam National University Sejong Hospital, Sejong, Korea
- Department of Neurology, Chungnam National University College of Medicine, Daejeon, Korea
- Department of Neurology, SMG-SNU Boramae Medical Center, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea
- Department of Neurology, Kyung Hee University Hospital, Kyung Hee University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea
- Department of Neurology, Chungnam National University Hospital, Daejeon, Korea
- Department of Neurology, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea
- Department of Genomic Medicine, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, Korea
- Department of Neurology, Gyeongsang National University Hospital, Jinju, Korea
- Department of Neurology, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seongnam, Korea
- Department of Neurology, Korea University Guro Hospital, Korea University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea
- Department of Neurology, BJ Center for Comprehensive Parkinson Care and Rare Movement Disorders, Chung-Ang University Health Care System, Hyundae Hospital, Namyangju, Korea
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Rossetti MA, Anderson KM, Hay KR, Del Bene VA, Celka AS, Piccolino A, Nelson Sheese AL, Huynh M, Zhu L, Claassen DO, Furr Stimming E, Considine CM. An Exploratory Pilot Study of Neuropsychological Performance in Two Huntington Disease Centers of Excellence Clinics. Arch Clin Neuropsychol 2024; 39:24-34. [PMID: 37530515 DOI: 10.1093/arclin/acad054] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 05/08/2023] [Indexed: 08/03/2023] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVES To describe the characteristics of patients receiving a clinical referral for neuropsychological evaluation in two Huntington's Disease Society of America Centers of Excellence (HDSA COE). In this exploratory pilot study, we used an empirically supported clinical neuropsychological battery to assess differences in cognitive performance between premanifest and manifest HD patient groups (compared with each other and normative expectations). METHOD Clinical data from 76 adult genetically confirmed patients referred for neuropsychological evaluations was retrospectively collected from two HDSA COEs. ANOVA and Chi-square tests were used to compare variables between pre-manifest (n = 14) and manifest (n = 62) groups for demographic, cognitive, neuropsychiatric, and disease severity variables. RESULTS Our clinics serviced a disproportionate number of motor manifest patients. Six measures were excluded from analyses due to infrequent administration. The full WAIS-IV Digit Span was disproportionately administered to the manifest group. The premanifest group showed stronger cognitive performance with effect sizes in the large range on subtests of the WAIS-IV Digit Span, HVLT-R, SDMT, and verbal fluency. CONCLUSIONS This is the first study to assess an empirically supported neuropsychological research battery in a clinical setting with a relatively large sample size given the rarity of HD. The battery adequately captured areas of impairment across the disease spectrum. Application of the current battery with larger premanifest samples is warranted.
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Affiliation(s)
- M Agustina Rossetti
- Department of Neurology, University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville, VA 22903, USA
| | - Kendra M Anderson
- Department of Neurology, McGovern Medical School UT Health, The University of Texas Health, Science Center, Houston, TX 77054, USA
| | - Kaitlyn R Hay
- Department of Neurology, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN 37232, USA
| | - Victor A Del Bene
- Department of Neurology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Heersink School of Medicine, Birmingham, AL 35244,USA
| | - Andrea S Celka
- Department of Neurology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Heersink School of Medicine, Birmingham, AL 35244,USA
| | - Adam Piccolino
- Piccolino Psychological Services, Burnsville, MN 55337, USA
| | - Amelia L Nelson Sheese
- Department of Neurological Sciences, University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Medicine, Omaha, NE 68198, USA
| | - Melissa Huynh
- Department of Neurology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, Dallas, TX 75390, USA
| | - Liang Zhu
- Department of Neurology, McGovern Medical School UT Health, The University of Texas Health, Science Center, Houston, TX 77054, USA
| | - Daniel O Claassen
- Department of Neurology, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN 37232, USA
| | - Erin Furr Stimming
- Department of Neurology, McGovern Medical School UT Health, The University of Texas Health, Science Center, Houston, TX 77054, USA
| | - Ciaran M Considine
- Department of Neurology, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN 37232, USA
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Langbehn DR, Sathe SS, Loy C, Sampaio C, Mccusker EA. A Phenotypic Atlas for Huntington Disease Based on Data From the Enroll-HD Cohort Study. Neurol Genet 2023; 9:e200111. [PMID: 38035176 PMCID: PMC10684052 DOI: 10.1212/nxg.0000000000200111] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2023] [Accepted: 10/04/2023] [Indexed: 12/02/2023]
Abstract
Background and Objectives The variable CAG repeat expansion in the huntingtin gene and its inverse relationship to motor dysfunction onset are fundamental features of Huntington disease (HD). However, the wider phenotype (including non-motor features) at particular CAG lengths, ages, and functional levels is less well-characterized. The large number of participants in the Enroll-HD observational study enables the development of a phenotype atlas that summarizes the range and distribution of HD phenotypes, including outliers and possible clusters, with respect to various CAG repeat lengths, age ranges, and declining functional levels. Methods Enroll-HD is an ongoing prospective longitudinal observational study that collects natural history data, releasing periodic data sets, in people with HD (PwHD) and controls. Core assessments at annual visits focus on behavioral, cognitive, motor, and functional status. Periodic data set 5, used for the development of the first iteration of the Enroll-HD Phenotype Atlas (EHDPA), included all eligible data collected through October 31, 2020. The atlas is based on subsets (cells) of descriptive data for all motor, cognitive, psychiatric, and functional measures that are routinely collected at most Enroll-HD sites, analyzed by single CAG lengths and 5-year age blocks. Results Data from 42,840 visits from 15,982 unique PwHD were available for analysis. At baseline, participants had a mean ± SD age of 48.9 ± 13.9 years and CAG repeat length of 43.4 ± 3.6 and 54.1% were female. The EHDPA includes 223 age-by-CAG subsets for CAG repeats between 36 and 69 with five-year age brackets starting from 20-24 years up to 85-89 years. The atlas can be browsed at enroll-hd.org/for-researchers/atlas-of-hd-phenotype/. Discussion The EHDPA summarizes the spectrum and distribution of HD phenotypes, including outliers and possible clusters, in all domains of disease involvement for the range of CAG repeat lengths, ages, and functional levels. Its availability in an easy-to-use online format will assist clinicians in tracking disease progression in PwHD by identifying phenotypic features most associated with loss of function and enabling conversations related to prognosis. The observable patterns in the EHDPA should also catalyze more formal multidomain characterization of motor, cognitive, and psychiatric progression and their relationships to functional decline and disease modifiers. Trial Registration Information Enroll-HD is registered with clinicaltrials.gov: NCT01574053.
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Affiliation(s)
- Douglas R Langbehn
- From the Departments of Psychiatry (D.R.L.), Biostatistics, University of Iowa, Iowa City; CHDI Management/CHDI Foundation (S.S.S., C.S.), Princeton, NJ; Macquarie Medical School (C.L.), Macquarie University; and Department of Neurology (Huntington disease Service) (E.A.M.), Westmead Hospital, University of Sydney, Australia
| | - Swati S Sathe
- From the Departments of Psychiatry (D.R.L.), Biostatistics, University of Iowa, Iowa City; CHDI Management/CHDI Foundation (S.S.S., C.S.), Princeton, NJ; Macquarie Medical School (C.L.), Macquarie University; and Department of Neurology (Huntington disease Service) (E.A.M.), Westmead Hospital, University of Sydney, Australia
| | - Clement Loy
- From the Departments of Psychiatry (D.R.L.), Biostatistics, University of Iowa, Iowa City; CHDI Management/CHDI Foundation (S.S.S., C.S.), Princeton, NJ; Macquarie Medical School (C.L.), Macquarie University; and Department of Neurology (Huntington disease Service) (E.A.M.), Westmead Hospital, University of Sydney, Australia
| | - Cristina Sampaio
- From the Departments of Psychiatry (D.R.L.), Biostatistics, University of Iowa, Iowa City; CHDI Management/CHDI Foundation (S.S.S., C.S.), Princeton, NJ; Macquarie Medical School (C.L.), Macquarie University; and Department of Neurology (Huntington disease Service) (E.A.M.), Westmead Hospital, University of Sydney, Australia
| | - Elizabeth A Mccusker
- From the Departments of Psychiatry (D.R.L.), Biostatistics, University of Iowa, Iowa City; CHDI Management/CHDI Foundation (S.S.S., C.S.), Princeton, NJ; Macquarie Medical School (C.L.), Macquarie University; and Department of Neurology (Huntington disease Service) (E.A.M.), Westmead Hospital, University of Sydney, Australia
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Krannich T, Sarrias MH, Ben Aribi H, Shokrof M, Iacoangeli A, Al-Chalabi A, Sedlazeck FJ, Busby B, Al Khleifat A. VariantSurvival: a tool to identify genotype-treatment response. FRONTIERS IN BIOINFORMATICS 2023; 3:1277923. [PMID: 37885757 PMCID: PMC10598652 DOI: 10.3389/fbinf.2023.1277923] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/15/2023] [Accepted: 09/22/2023] [Indexed: 10/28/2023] Open
Abstract
Motivation: For a number of neurological diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and many others, certain genes are known to be involved in the disease mechanism. A common question is whether a structural variant in any such gene may be related to drug response in clinical trials and how this relationship can contribute to the lifecycle of drug development. Results: To this end, we introduce VariantSurvival, a tool that identifies changes in survival relative to structural variants within target genes. VariantSurvival matches annotated structural variants with genes that are clinically relevant to neurological diseases. A Cox regression model determines the change in survival between the placebo and clinical trial groups with respect to the number of structural variants in the drug target genes. We demonstrate the functionality of our approach with the exemplary case of the SETX gene. VariantSurvival has a user-friendly and lightweight graphical user interface built on the shiny web application package.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thomas Krannich
- Genome Competence Center (MF1), Robert Koch Institute, Berlin, Germany
| | - Marina Herrera Sarrias
- Computational Mathematics Division, Department of Mathematics, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Hiba Ben Aribi
- Faculty of Science of Tunis, University El Manar, Tunis, Tunisia
| | - Moustafa Shokrof
- Department of Computer Science, University of California, Davis, CA, United States
| | - Alfredo Iacoangeli
- Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Ammar Al-Chalabi
- Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Fritz J. Sedlazeck
- Human Genome Sequencing Center, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, United States
| | - Ben Busby
- DNAnexus, Mountain View, CA, United States
| | - Ahmad Al Khleifat
- Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom
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10
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Wilkes FA, Jakabek D, Walterfang M, Velakoulis D, Poudel GR, Stout JC, Chua P, Egan GF, Looi JCL, Georgiou-Karistianis N. The shape of things to come. Mapping spatiotemporal progression of striatal morphology in Huntington disease: The IMAGE-HD study. Psychiatry Res Neuroimaging 2023; 335:111717. [PMID: 37751638 DOI: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2023.111717] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/08/2023] [Revised: 09/08/2023] [Accepted: 09/12/2023] [Indexed: 09/28/2023]
Abstract
Mapping the spatiotemporal progression of neuroanatomical change in Huntington's Disease (HD) is fundamental to the development of bio-measures for prognostication. Statistical shape analysis to measure the striatum has been performed in HD, however there have been a limited number of longitudinal studies. To address these limitations, we utilised the Spherical Harmonic Point Distribution Method (SPHARM-PDM) to generate point distribution models of the striatum in individuals, and used linear mixed models to test for localised shape change over time in pre-manifest HD (pre-HD), symp-HD (symp-HD) and control individuals. Longitudinal MRI scans from the IMAGE-HD study were used (baseline, 18 and 30 months). We found significant differences in the shape of the striatum between groups. Significant group-by-time interaction was observed for the putamen bilaterally, but not for caudate. A differential rate of shape change between groups over time was observed, with more significant deflation in the symp-HD group in comparison with the pre-HD and control groups. CAG repeats were correlated with bilateral striatal shape in pre-HD and symp-HD. Robust statistical analysis of the correlates of striatal shape change in HD has confirmed the suitability of striatal morphology as a potential biomarker correlated with CAG-repeat length, and potentially, an endophenotype.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fiona A Wilkes
- Research Centre for the Neurosciences of Ageing, Academic Unit of Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine, Australian National University Medical School, Canberra Hospital, Canberra, Australia.
| | | | - Mark Walterfang
- Neuropsychiatry Unit, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, University of Melbourne and Northwestern Mental Health, Melbourne, Australia; Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
| | - Dennis Velakoulis
- Neuropsychiatry Unit, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, University of Melbourne and Northwestern Mental Health, Melbourne, Australia; Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
| | - Govinda R Poudel
- Mary Mackillop Institute for Health Research, Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, Australia
| | - Julie C Stout
- School of Psychological Sciences and the Turner Institute of Brain and Mental Health, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
| | - Phyllis Chua
- Department of Psychiatry, School of Clinical Sciences, Monash University, Monash Medical Centre, Melbourne, Australia
| | - Gary F Egan
- School of Psychological Sciences and the Turner Institute of Brain and Mental Health, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
| | - Jeffrey C L Looi
- Research Centre for the Neurosciences of Ageing, Academic Unit of Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine, Australian National University Medical School, Canberra Hospital, Canberra, Australia; Neuropsychiatry Unit, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, University of Melbourne and Northwestern Mental Health, Melbourne, Australia
| | - Nellie Georgiou-Karistianis
- School of Psychological Sciences and the Turner Institute of Brain and Mental Health, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
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Wibawa P, Walterfang M, Malpas CB, Glikmann‐Johnston Y, Poudel G, Razi A, Hannan AJ, Velakoulis D, Georgiou‐Karistianis N. Selective perforant-pathway atrophy in Huntington disease: MRI analysis of hippocampal subfields. Eur J Neurol 2023; 30:2650-2660. [PMID: 37306313 PMCID: PMC10946817 DOI: 10.1111/ene.15918] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2022] [Revised: 04/17/2023] [Accepted: 06/08/2023] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION While individuals with Huntington disease (HD) show memory impairment that indicates hippocampal dysfunction, the available literature does not consistently identify structural evidence for involvement of the whole hippocampus but rather suggests that hippocampal atrophy may be confined to certain hippocampal subregions. METHODS We processed T1-weighted MRI from IMAGE-HD study using FreeSurfer 7.0 and compared the volumes of the hippocampal subfields among 36 early motor symptomatic (symp-HD), 40 pre-symptomatic (pre-HD), and 36 healthy control individuals across three timepoints over 36 months. RESULTS Mixed-model analyses revealed significantly lower subfield volumes in symp-HD, compared with pre-HD and control groups, in the subicular regions of the perforant-pathway: presubiculum, subiculum, dentate gyrus, tail, and right molecular layer. These adjoining subfields aggregated into a single principal component, which demonstrated an accelerated rate of atrophy in the symp-HD. Volumes between pre-HD and controls did not show any significant difference. In the combined HD groups, CAG repeat length and disease burden score were associated with presubiculum, molecular layer, tail, and perforant-pathway subfield volumes. Hippocampal left tail and perforant-pathway subfields were associated with motor onset in the pre-HD group. CONCLUSIONS Hippocampal subfields atrophy in early symptomatic HD affects key regions of the perforant-pathway, which may implicate the distinctive memory impairment at this stage of illness. Their volumetric associations with genetic and clinical markers suggest the selective susceptibility of these subfields to mutant Huntingtin and disease progression.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pierre Wibawa
- NeuropsychiatryRoyal Melbourne HospitalParkvilleVictoriaAustralia
- Melbourne Neuropsychiatry CenterUniversity of MelbourneParkvilleVictoriaAustralia
- School of Psychological Sciences and Turner Institute for Brain and Mental HealthMonash UniversityClaytonVictoriaAustralia
| | - Mark Walterfang
- NeuropsychiatryRoyal Melbourne HospitalParkvilleVictoriaAustralia
- Melbourne Neuropsychiatry CenterUniversity of MelbourneParkvilleVictoriaAustralia
- Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental HealthUniversity of MelbourneParkvilleVictoriaAustralia
| | - Charles B. Malpas
- NeuropsychiatryRoyal Melbourne HospitalParkvilleVictoriaAustralia
- Melbourne Neuropsychiatry CenterUniversity of MelbourneParkvilleVictoriaAustralia
| | - Yifat Glikmann‐Johnston
- School of Psychological Sciences and Turner Institute for Brain and Mental HealthMonash UniversityClaytonVictoriaAustralia
| | - Govinda Poudel
- Mary Mackillop Institute for Health ResearchAustralian Catholic UniversityFitzroyVictoriaAustralia
| | - Adeel Razi
- School of Psychological Sciences and Turner Institute for Brain and Mental HealthMonash UniversityClaytonVictoriaAustralia
| | - Anthony J. Hannan
- Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental HealthUniversity of MelbourneParkvilleVictoriaAustralia
| | - Dennis Velakoulis
- NeuropsychiatryRoyal Melbourne HospitalParkvilleVictoriaAustralia
- Melbourne Neuropsychiatry CenterUniversity of MelbourneParkvilleVictoriaAustralia
- Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental HealthUniversity of MelbourneParkvilleVictoriaAustralia
| | - Nellie Georgiou‐Karistianis
- School of Psychological Sciences and Turner Institute for Brain and Mental HealthMonash UniversityClaytonVictoriaAustralia
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12
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Plácido E, Gomes Welter P, Wink A, Karasiak GD, Outeiro TF, Dafre AL, Gil-Mohapel J, Brocardo PS. Beyond Motor Deficits: Environmental Enrichment Mitigates Huntington's Disease Effects in YAC128 Mice. Int J Mol Sci 2023; 24:12607. [PMID: 37628801 PMCID: PMC10454852 DOI: 10.3390/ijms241612607] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2023] [Revised: 08/06/2023] [Accepted: 08/07/2023] [Indexed: 08/27/2023] Open
Abstract
Huntington's disease (HD) is a neurodegenerative genetic disorder characterized by motor, psychiatric, cognitive, and peripheral symptoms without effective therapy. Evidence suggests that lifestyle factors can modulate disease onset and progression, and environmental enrichment (EE) has emerged as a potential approach to mitigate the progression and severity of neurodegenerative processes. Wild-type (WT) and yeast artificial chromosome (YAC) 128 mice were exposed to different EE conditions. Animals from cohort 1 were exposed to EE between postnatal days 21 and 60, and animals from cohort 2 were exposed to EE between postnatal days 60 and 120. Motor and non-motor behavioral tests were employed to evaluate the effects of EE on HD progression. Monoamine levels, hippocampal cell proliferation, neuronal differentiation, and dendritic arborization were also assessed. Here we show that EE had an antidepressant-like effect and slowed the progression of motor deficits in HD mice. It also reduced monoamine levels, which correlated with better motor performance, particularly in the striatum. EE also modulated neuronal differentiation in the YAC128 hippocampus. These results confirm that EE can impact behavior, hippocampal neuroplasticity, and monoamine levels in YAC128 mice, suggesting this could be a therapeutic strategy to modulate neuroplasticity deficits in HD. However, further research is needed to fully understand EE's mechanisms and long-term effects as an adjuvant therapy for this debilitating condition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Evelini Plácido
- Neuroscience Graduate Program, Center of Biological Sciences, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florianopolis 88040-900, SC, Brazil (A.W.); (A.L.D.)
| | - Priscilla Gomes Welter
- Neuroscience Graduate Program, Center of Biological Sciences, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florianopolis 88040-900, SC, Brazil (A.W.); (A.L.D.)
| | - Ana Wink
- Neuroscience Graduate Program, Center of Biological Sciences, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florianopolis 88040-900, SC, Brazil (A.W.); (A.L.D.)
| | - Gabriela Duarte Karasiak
- Department of Biochemistry, Center of Biological Sciences, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florianopolis 88040-900, SC, Brazil;
| | - Tiago Fleming Outeiro
- Department of Experimental Neurodegeneration, Center for Biostructural Imaging of Neurodegeneration, University Medical Center Göttingen, 37075 Göttingen, Germany;
- Max Planck Institute for Natural Sciences, 37075 Göttingen, Germany
- Translational and Clinical Research Institute, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Newcastle University, Framlington Place, Newcastle Upon Tyne NE1 7RU, UK
- Deutsches Zentrum für Neurodegenerative Erkrankungen (DZNE), 18147 Göttingen, Germany
| | - Alcir Luiz Dafre
- Neuroscience Graduate Program, Center of Biological Sciences, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florianopolis 88040-900, SC, Brazil (A.W.); (A.L.D.)
- Department of Biochemistry, Center of Biological Sciences, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florianopolis 88040-900, SC, Brazil;
| | - Joana Gil-Mohapel
- Island Medical Program, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia and Division of Medical Sciences, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC V8P 5C2, Canada
| | - Patricia S. Brocardo
- Neuroscience Graduate Program, Center of Biological Sciences, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florianopolis 88040-900, SC, Brazil (A.W.); (A.L.D.)
- Department of Morphological Sciences, Center of Biological Sciences, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florianopolis 88040-900, SC, Brazil
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13
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Ogilvie AC, Schultz JL. Memantine Use and Cognitive Decline in Huntington's Disease: An Enroll-HD Study. Mov Disord Clin Pract 2023; 10:1120-1125. [PMID: 37476323 PMCID: PMC10354618 DOI: 10.1002/mdc3.13763] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/27/2022] [Revised: 04/05/2023] [Accepted: 04/15/2023] [Indexed: 07/22/2023] Open
Abstract
Background Memantine is an N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist that is used to treat moderate to severe Alzheimer's Dementia (AD) and has been speculated to provide clinical benefits in Huntington's disease (HD). Objective To assess the effectiveness of memantine on the trajectory of cognitive decline in individuals with manifest HD. Methods Using participants from the Enroll-HD study, the primary analysis compared trajectories in cognition over a 5-year period using linear mixed effect models of prevalent and incident memantine users who were propensity-score-matched with non-users on measures of disease progression and demographics. Results In the primary analysis there were no significant differences in the trajectories between memantine users and non-users on any primary outcomes of interest. Conclusions Memantine use was not associated with any clinical benefit for individuals with manifest HD. Further studies are warranted to assess the impact of memantine on clinical outcomes in HD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amy C. Ogilvie
- Department of EpidemiologyThe College of Public Health at the University of IowaIowa CityIAUSA
- Department of PsychiatryThe Carver College of Medicine at the University of IowaIowa CityIAUSA
| | - Jordan L. Schultz
- Department of PsychiatryThe Carver College of Medicine at the University of IowaIowa CityIAUSA
- Department of NeurologyThe Carver College of Medicine at the University of IowaIowa CityIAUSA
- Division of Pharmacy Practice and SciencesThe College of Pharmacy at the University of IowaIowa CityIAUSA
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14
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Li XY, Bao YF, Xie JJ, Gao B, Qian SX, Dong Y, Wu ZY. Application Value of Serum Neurofilament Light Protein for Disease Staging in Huntington's Disease. Mov Disord 2023. [PMID: 37148558 DOI: 10.1002/mds.29430] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2022] [Revised: 04/06/2023] [Accepted: 04/18/2023] [Indexed: 05/08/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Neurofilament light protein (NfL) has been proven to be a sensitive biomarker for Huntington's disease (HD). However, these studies did not include HD patients at advanced stages or with larger CAG repeats (>50), leading to a knowledge gap of the characteristics of NfL. METHODS Serum NfL (sNfL) levels were quantified using an ultrasensitive immunoassay. Participants were assessed by clinical scales and 7.0 T magnetic resonance imaging. Longitudinal samples and clinical data were obtained. RESULTS Baseline samples were available from 110 controls, 90 premanifest HD (pre-HD) and 137 HD individuals. We found levels of sNfL significantly increased in HD compared to pre-HD and controls (both P < 0.0001). The increase rates of sNfL were differed by CAG repeat lengths. However, there was no difference in sNfL levels in manifest HD from early to late stages. In addition, sNfL levels were associated with cognitive measures in pre-HD and manifest HD group, respectively. The increased levels of sNfL were also closely related to microstructural changes in white matter. In the longitudinal analysis, baseline sNfL did not correlate with subsequent clinical function decline. Random forest analysis revealed that sNfL had good power for predicting disease onset. CONCLUSIONS Although sNfL levels are independent of disease stages in manifest HD, it is still an optimal indicator for predicting disease onset and has potential use as a surrogate biomarker of treatment effect in clinical trials. © 2023 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiao-Yan Li
- Department of Medical Genetics and Center for Rare Diseases, and Department of Neurology in Second Affiliated Hospital, and Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
| | - Yu-Feng Bao
- Department of Medical Genetics and Center for Rare Diseases, and Department of Neurology in Second Affiliated Hospital, and Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
| | - Juan-Juan Xie
- Department of Medical Genetics and Center for Rare Diseases, and Department of Neurology in Second Affiliated Hospital, and Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
| | - Bin Gao
- Department of Medical Genetics and Center for Rare Diseases, and Department of Neurology in Second Affiliated Hospital, and Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
| | - Shu-Xia Qian
- Department of Medical Genetics and Center for Rare Diseases, and Department of Neurology in Second Affiliated Hospital, and Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
| | - Yi Dong
- Department of Medical Genetics and Center for Rare Diseases, and Department of Neurology in Second Affiliated Hospital, and Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
| | - Zhi-Ying Wu
- Department of Medical Genetics and Center for Rare Diseases, and Department of Neurology in Second Affiliated Hospital, and Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
- MOE Frontier Science Center for Brain Research and Brain-Machine Integration, School of Brain Science and Brain Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
- CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Shanghai, China
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15
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Sturchio A, Duker AP, Muñoz-Sanjuan I, Espay AJ. Subtyping monogenic disorders: Huntington disease. HANDBOOK OF CLINICAL NEUROLOGY 2023; 193:171-184. [PMID: 36803810 DOI: 10.1016/b978-0-323-85555-6.00003-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/18/2023]
Abstract
Huntington disease is a highly disabling neurodegenerative disease characterized by psychiatric, cognitive, and motor deficits. The causal genetic mutation in huntingtin (Htt, also known as IT15), located on chromosome 4p16.3, leads to an expansion of a triplet coding for polyglutamine. The expansion is invariably associated with the disease when >39 repeats. Htt encodes for the protein huntingtin (HTT), which carries out many essential biological functions in the cell, in particular in the nervous system. The precise mechanism of toxicity is not known. Based on a one-gene-one-disease framework, the prevailing hypothesis ascribes toxicity to the universal aggregation of HTT. However, the aggregation process into mutant huntingtin (mHTT) is associated with a reduction of the levels of wild-type HTT. A loss of wild-type HTT may plausibly be pathogenic, contributing to the disease onset and progressive neurodegeneration. Moreover, many other biological pathways are altered in Huntington disease, such as in the autophagic system, mitochondria, and essential proteins beyond HTT, potentially explaining biological and clinical differences among affected individuals. As one gene does not mean one disease, future efforts at identifying specific Huntington subtypes are important to design biologically tailored therapeutic approaches that correct the corresponding biological pathways-rather than continuing to exclusively target the common denominator of HTT aggregation for elimination.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrea Sturchio
- James J. and Joan A. Gardner Family Center for Parkinson's disease and Movement Disorders, Department of Neurology, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, United States; Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Neuro Svenningsson, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
| | - Andrew P Duker
- James J. and Joan A. Gardner Family Center for Parkinson's disease and Movement Disorders, Department of Neurology, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, United States
| | | | - Alberto J Espay
- James J. and Joan A. Gardner Family Center for Parkinson's disease and Movement Disorders, Department of Neurology, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, United States.
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16
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Ko J, Furby H, Ma X, Long JD, Lu XY, Slowiejko D, Gandhy R. Clustering and prediction of disease progression trajectories in Huntington's disease: An analysis of Enroll-HD data using a machine learning approach. Front Neurol 2023; 13:1034269. [PMID: 36793800 PMCID: PMC9923354 DOI: 10.3389/fneur.2022.1034269] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/01/2022] [Accepted: 12/21/2022] [Indexed: 01/31/2023] Open
Abstract
Introduction Huntington's disease (HD) is a rare neurodegenerative disease characterized by cognitive, behavioral and motor symptoms that progressively worsen with time. Cognitive and behavioral signs of HD are generally present in the years prior to a diagnosis; however, manifest HD is typically assessed by genetic confirmation and/or the presence of unequivocal motor symptoms. Nevertheless, there is a large variation in symptom severity and rate of progression among individuals with HD. Methods In this retrospective study, longitudinal natural history of disease progression was modeled in individuals with manifest HD from the global, observational Enroll-HD study (NCT01574053). Unsupervised machine learning (k-means; km3d) was used to jointly model clinical and functional disease measures simultaneously over time, based on one-dimensional clustering concordance such that individuals with manifest HD (N = 4,961) were grouped into three clusters: rapid (Cluster A; 25.3%), moderate (Cluster B; 45.5%) and slow (Cluster C; 29.2%) progressors. Features that were considered predictive of disease trajectory were then identified using a supervised machine learning method (XGBoost). Results The cytosine adenine guanine-age product score (a product of age and polyglutamine repeat length) at enrollment was the top predicting feature for cluster assignment, followed by years since symptom onset, medical history of apathy, body mass index at enrollment and age at enrollment. Conclusions These results are useful for understanding factors that affect the global rate of decline in HD. Further work is needed to develop prognostic models of HD progression as these could help clinicians with individualized clinical care planning and disease management.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jinnie Ko
- Genentech Inc., South San Francisco, CA, United States,*Correspondence: Jinnie Ko ✉
| | - Hannah Furby
- Roche Products Ltd., Welwyn Garden City, United Kingdom
| | - Xiaoye Ma
- Genentech Inc., South San Francisco, CA, United States
| | - Jeffrey D. Long
- University of Iowa Health Care, Iowa City, IA, United States
| | - Xiao-Yu Lu
- Genentech Inc., South San Francisco, CA, United States
| | | | - Rita Gandhy
- Genentech Inc., South San Francisco, CA, United States
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17
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Schultz JL, Langbehn DR, Al-Kaylani HM, van der Plas E, Koscik TR, Epping EA, Espe-Pfeifer PB, Martin EP, Moser DJ, Magnotta VA, Nopoulos PC. Longitudinal Clinical and Biological Characteristics in Juvenile-Onset Huntington's Disease. Mov Disord 2023; 38:113-122. [PMID: 36318082 PMCID: PMC9851979 DOI: 10.1002/mds.29251] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/14/2022] [Revised: 08/26/2022] [Accepted: 09/29/2022] [Indexed: 01/20/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Juvenile-onset Huntington's disease (JOHD) is a rare form of Huntington's disease (HD) characterized by symptom onset before the age of 21 years. Observational data in this cohort is lacking. OBJECTIVES Quantify measures of disease progression for use in clinical trials of patients with JOHD. METHODS Participants who received a motor diagnosis of HD before the age of 21 were included in the Kids-JOHD study. The comparator group consisted of children and young adults who were at-risk for inheriting the genetic mutation that causes HD, but who were found to have a CAG repeat in the non-expanded range (gene non-expanded [GNE]). RESULTS Data were obtained between March 17, 2006, and February 13, 2020. There were 26 JOHD participants and 78 GNE participants who were comparable on age (16.03 vs. 14.43, respectively) and sex (53.8% female vs. 57.7% female, respectively). The mean annualized decrease in striatal volume in the JOHD group was -3.99% compared to -0.06% in the GNE (mean difference [MD], -3.93%; 95% confidence intervals [CI], [-4.98 to -2.80], FDR < 0.0001). The mean increase in the Unified Huntington's Disease Rating Scale Total Motor Score per year in the JOHD group was 7.29 points compared to a mean decrease of -0.21 point in the GNE (MD, 7.5; 95% CI, [5.71-9.28], FDR < 0·0001). CONCLUSIONS These findings demonstrate that structural brain imaging and clinical measures in JOHD may be potential biomarkers of disease progression for use in clinical trials. Collaborative efforts are required to validate these results in a larger cohort of patients with JOHD. © 2022 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jordan L. Schultz
- Carver College of Medicine at the University of Iowa, Department of Psychiatry, 200 Hawkins Drive, Iowa City, IA
- Carver College of Medicine at the University of Iowa, Department of Neurology, 200 Hawkins Drive, Iowa City, IA
- University of Iowa College of Pharmacy, Division of Pharmacy Practice and Sciences, 200 Hawkins Drive, Iowa City, IA
| | - Douglas R. Langbehn
- Carver College of Medicine at the University of Iowa, Department of Psychiatry, 200 Hawkins Drive, Iowa City, IA
| | - Hend M. Al-Kaylani
- Carver College of Medicine at the University of Iowa, Department of Psychiatry, 200 Hawkins Drive, Iowa City, IA
| | - Ellen van der Plas
- Carver College of Medicine at the University of Iowa, Department of Psychiatry, 200 Hawkins Drive, Iowa City, IA
| | - Timothy R. Koscik
- Carver College of Medicine at the University of Iowa, Department of Psychiatry, 200 Hawkins Drive, Iowa City, IA
| | - Eric A. Epping
- Carver College of Medicine at the University of Iowa, Department of Psychiatry, 200 Hawkins Drive, Iowa City, IA
| | - Patricia B. Espe-Pfeifer
- Carver College of Medicine at the University of Iowa, Department of Psychiatry, 200 Hawkins Drive, Iowa City, IA
| | - Erin P. Martin
- Carver College of Medicine at the University of Iowa, Department of Psychiatry, 200 Hawkins Drive, Iowa City, IA
| | - David J. Moser
- Carver College of Medicine at the University of Iowa, Department of Psychiatry, 200 Hawkins Drive, Iowa City, IA
| | - Vincent A. Magnotta
- Carver College of Medicine at the University of Iowa, Department of Psychiatry, 200 Hawkins Drive, Iowa City, IA
- Carver College of Medicine at the University of Iowa, Department of Radiology, 200 Hawkins Drive, Iowa City, IA
| | - Peggy C. Nopoulos
- Carver College of Medicine at the University of Iowa, Department of Psychiatry, 200 Hawkins Drive, Iowa City, IA
- Carver College of Medicine at the University of Iowa, Department of Neurology, 200 Hawkins Drive, Iowa City, IA
- Stead Family Children’s Hospital at the University of Iowa, 200 Hawkins Drive, Iowa City, IA
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18
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Weil EL, Nakawah MO, Masdeu JC. Advances in the neuroimaging of motor disorders. HANDBOOK OF CLINICAL NEUROLOGY 2023; 195:359-381. [PMID: 37562878 DOI: 10.1016/b978-0-323-98818-6.00039-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/12/2023]
Abstract
Neuroimaging is a valuable adjunct to the history and examination in the evaluation of motor system disorders. Conventional imaging with computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging depicts important anatomic information and helps to identify imaging patterns which may support diagnosis of a specific motor disorder. Advanced imaging techniques can provide further detail regarding volume, functional, or metabolic changes occurring in nervous system pathology. This chapter is an overview of the advances in neuroimaging with particular emphasis on both standard and less well-known advanced imaging techniques and findings, such as diffusion tensor imaging or volumetric studies, and their application to specific motor disorders. In addition, it provides reference to emerging imaging biomarkers in motor system disorders such as Parkinson disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and Huntington disease, and briefly reviews the neuroimaging findings in different causes of myelopathy and peripheral nerve disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Erika L Weil
- Department of Neurology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States; Stanley H. Appel Department of Neurology, Houston Methodist Hospital, Houston, TX, United States.
| | - Mohammad Obadah Nakawah
- Stanley H. Appel Department of Neurology, Houston Methodist Hospital, Houston, TX, United States; Department of Neurology, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, United States
| | - Joseph C Masdeu
- Stanley H. Appel Department of Neurology, Houston Methodist Hospital, Houston, TX, United States; Department of Neurology, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, United States
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19
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Caligiuri M, Culbert B, Prasad N, Snell C, Hall A, Smirnova A, Churchill E, Corey-Bloom J. Graphomotor Dysfluency as a Predictor of Disease Progression in Premanifest Huntington's Disease. J Huntingtons Dis 2023; 12:283-292. [PMID: 37182891 DOI: 10.3233/jhd-230562] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/16/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Prior studies have relied on conventional observer-based severity ratings such as the Unified Huntington's Disease Rating Scale (UHDRS) to identify early motor markers of decline in Huntington's disease (HD). OBJECTIVE The present study examined the predictive utility of graphomotor measures handwriting and drawing movements. METHODS Seventeen gene-positive premanifest HD subjects underwent comprehensive clinical, cognitive, motor, and graphomotor assessments at baseline and at follow-up intervals ranging from 9-36 months. Baseline graphomotor assessments were subjected to linear multiple regression procedures to identify factors associated with change on the comprehensive UHDRS index. RESULTS Subjects were followed for an average of 21.2 months. Three multivariate regression models based on graphomotor variables derived from a complex loop task, a maximum speed circle drawing task and a combined task returned adjusted R2 coefficients of 0.76, 0.71, and 0.80 respectively accounting for a significant portion of the variability in cUHDRS change score. The best-fit model based on the combined tasks indicated that greater decline on the cUHDRS was associated with increased pen movement dysfluency and stroke-stroke variability at baseline. CONCLUSION Performance on multiple measures of graphomotor dysfluency assessed during the premanifest or prodromal stage in at-risk HD individuals was associated with decline on a multidimensional index of HD morbidity preceding an HD diagnosis.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Braden Culbert
- Department of Neurosciences, UC San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Nikita Prasad
- Department of Neurosciences, UC San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Chase Snell
- Department of Neurosciences, UC San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Andrew Hall
- Department of Neurosciences, UC San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Anna Smirnova
- Department of Neurosciences, UC San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Emma Churchill
- Department of Neurosciences, UC San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
- Department of Psychology, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, USA
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20
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Koval I, Dighiero-Brecht T, Tobin AJ, Tabrizi SJ, Scahill RI, Tezenas du Montcel S, Durrleman S, Durr A. Forecasting individual progression trajectories in Huntington disease enables more powered clinical trials. Sci Rep 2022; 12:18928. [PMID: 36344508 PMCID: PMC9640581 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-18848-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/24/2022] [Accepted: 08/22/2022] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Variability in neurodegenerative disease progression poses great challenges for the evaluation of potential treatments. Identifying the persons who will experience significant progression in the short term is key for the implementation of trials with smaller sample sizes. We apply here disease course mapping to forecast biomarker progression for individual carriers of the pathological CAG repeat expansions responsible for Huntington disease. We used data from two longitudinal studies (TRACK-HD and TRACK-ON) to synchronize temporal progression of 15 clinical and imaging biomarkers from 290 participants with Huntington disease. We used then the resulting HD COURSE MAP to forecast clinical endpoints from the baseline data of 11,510 participants from ENROLL-HD, an external validation cohort. We used such forecasts to select participants at risk for progression and compute the power of trials for such an enriched population. HD COURSE MAP forecasts biomarkers 5 years after the baseline measures with a maximum mean absolute error of 10 points for the total motor score and 2.15 for the total functional capacity. This allowed reducing sample sizes in trial up to 50% including participants with a higher risk for progression ensuring a more homogeneous group of participants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Igor Koval
- Institut du Cerveau - Paris Brain Institute - ICM, CNRS, Inria, Inserm, AP-HP, Hôpital de la Pitié Salpêtrière, Sorbonne Université, 75013, Paris, France
| | - Thomas Dighiero-Brecht
- Institut du Cerveau - Paris Brain Institute - ICM, CNRS, Inria, Inserm, AP-HP, Hôpital de la Pitié Salpêtrière, Sorbonne Université, 75013, Paris, France
| | - Allan J Tobin
- Biological Adaptation and Ageing, Sorbonne Université, Paris, France
- Brain Research Institute, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Sarah J Tabrizi
- UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, Queen Square, London, UK
| | - Rachael I Scahill
- UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, Queen Square, London, UK
| | - Sophie Tezenas du Montcel
- Institut du Cerveau - Paris Brain Institute - ICM, CNRS, Inria, Inserm, AP-HP, Hôpital de la Pitié Salpêtrière, Sorbonne Université, 75013, Paris, France
| | - Stanley Durrleman
- Institut du Cerveau - Paris Brain Institute - ICM, CNRS, Inria, Inserm, AP-HP, Hôpital de la Pitié Salpêtrière, Sorbonne Université, 75013, Paris, France.
| | - Alexandra Durr
- Department of Neurology, DMU Neurosciences, Sorbonne Université, Institut du Cerveau - Paris Brain Institute - ICM, CNRS, Inserm, AP-HP, Hôpital de la Pitié Salpêtrière, 75013, Paris, France.
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21
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Papoutsi M, Flower M, Hensman Moss DJ, Holmans P, Estevez-Fraga C, Johnson EB, Scahill RI, Rees G, Langbehn D, Tabrizi SJ. Intellectual enrichment and genetic modifiers of cognition and brain volume in Huntington's disease. Brain Commun 2022; 4:fcac279. [PMID: 36519153 PMCID: PMC9732861 DOI: 10.1093/braincomms/fcac279] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/04/2022] [Revised: 08/22/2022] [Accepted: 10/27/2022] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
An important step towards the development of treatments for cognitive impairment in ageing and neurodegenerative diseases is to identify genetic and environmental modifiers of cognitive function and understand the mechanism by which they exert an effect. In Huntington's disease, the most common autosomal dominant dementia, a small number of studies have identified intellectual enrichment, i.e. a cognitively stimulating lifestyle and genetic polymorphisms as potential modifiers of cognitive function. The aim of our study was to further investigate the relationship and interaction between genetic factors and intellectual enrichment on cognitive function and brain atrophy in Huntington's disease. For this purpose, we analysed data from Track-HD, a multi-centre longitudinal study in Huntington's disease gene carriers and focused on the role of intellectual enrichment (estimated at baseline) and the genes FAN1, MSH3, BDNF, COMT and MAPT in predicting cognitive decline and brain atrophy. We found that carrying the 3a allele in the MSH3 gene had a positive effect on global cognitive function and brain atrophy in multiple cortical regions, such that 3a allele carriers had a slower rate of cognitive decline and atrophy compared with non-carriers, in agreement with its role in somatic instability. No other genetic predictor had a significant effect on cognitive function and the effect of MSH3 was independent of intellectual enrichment. Intellectual enrichment also had a positive effect on cognitive function; participants with higher intellectual enrichment, i.e. those who were better educated, had higher verbal intelligence and performed an occupation that was intellectually engaging, had better cognitive function overall, in agreement with previous studies in Huntington's disease and other dementias. We also found that intellectual enrichment interacted with the BDNF gene, such that the positive effect of intellectual enrichment was greater in Met66 allele carriers than non-carriers. A similar relationship was also identified for changes in whole brain and caudate volume; the positive effect of intellectual enrichment was greater for Met66 allele carriers, rather than for non-carriers. In summary, our study provides additional evidence for the beneficial role of intellectual enrichment and carrying the 3a allele in MSH3 in cognitive function in Huntington's disease and their effect on brain structure.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marina Papoutsi
- UCL Huntington’s Disease Centre, Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, UK
- Ixico plc, London, UK
| | - Michael Flower
- UCL Huntington’s Disease Centre, Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, UK
| | - Davina J Hensman Moss
- UCL Huntington’s Disease Centre, Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, UK
| | - Peter Holmans
- MRC Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK
| | - Carlos Estevez-Fraga
- UCL Huntington’s Disease Centre, Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, UK
| | - Eileanoir B Johnson
- UCL Huntington’s Disease Centre, Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, UK
| | - Rachael I Scahill
- UCL Huntington’s Disease Centre, Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, UK
| | - Geraint Rees
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, UK
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London, UK
| | - Douglas Langbehn
- Carver College of Medicine, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA
| | - Sarah J Tabrizi
- UCL Huntington’s Disease Centre, Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, UK
- UK Dementia Research Institute at University College London, London, UK
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22
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Tabrizi SJ, Schobel S, Gantman EC, Mansbach A, Borowsky B, Konstantinova P, Mestre TA, Panagoulias J, Ross CA, Zauderer M, Mullin AP, Romero K, Sivakumaran S, Turner EC, Long JD, Sampaio C. A biological classification of Huntington's disease: the Integrated Staging System. Lancet Neurol 2022; 21:632-644. [PMID: 35716693 DOI: 10.1016/s1474-4422(22)00120-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 89] [Impact Index Per Article: 44.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/09/2021] [Revised: 02/11/2022] [Accepted: 03/11/2022] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
The current research paradigm for Huntington's disease is based on participants with overt clinical phenotypes and does not address its pathophysiology nor the biomarker changes that can precede by decades the functional decline. We have generated a new research framework to standardise clinical research and enable interventional studies earlier in the disease course. The Huntington's Disease Integrated Staging System (HD-ISS) comprises a biological research definition and evidence-based staging centred on biological, clinical, and functional assessments. We used a formal consensus method that involved representatives from academia, industry, and non-profit organisations. The HD-ISS characterises individuals for research purposes from birth, starting at Stage 0 (ie, individuals with the Huntington's disease genetic mutation without any detectable pathological change) by using a genetic definition of Huntington's disease. Huntington's disease progression is then marked by measurable indicators of underlying pathophysiology (Stage 1), a detectable clinical phenotype (Stage 2), and then decline in function (Stage 3). Individuals can be precisely classified into stages based on thresholds of stage-specific landmark assessments. We also demonstrated the internal validity of this system. The adoption of the HD-ISS could facilitate the design of clinical trials targeting populations before clinical motor diagnosis and enable data standardisation across ongoing and future studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah J Tabrizi
- UCL Huntington's Disease Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative Diseases, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, UK Dementia Research Institute, University College London, UK.
| | - Scott Schobel
- Product Development Neuroscience, F Hoffmann-La Roche, Basel, Switzerland
| | | | | | | | | | - Tiago A Mestre
- Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders Centre, Division of Neurology, Department of Medicine, The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, University of Ottawa Brain and Mind Research Institute, Ottawa, ON, Canada
| | | | - Christopher A Ross
- Division of Neurobiology, Department of Psychiatry, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA; Departments of Neurology, Neuroscience, and Pharmacology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | | | | | - Klaus Romero
- Critical Path Institute, Tucson, Arizona 85718, USA
| | | | | | - Jeffrey D Long
- Department of Psychiatry, Department of Biostatistics, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA
| | - Cristina Sampaio
- CHDI Management/CHDI Foundation, Princeton, NJ, USA; Clinical Pharmacology Laboratory, Faculdade de Medicina de Lisboa, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal.
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23
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Luo Z, Wang J, Cao P, Zhang L, Hao R, Liang T. Report of a family with Huntington's disease. IBRAIN 2022; 8:241-245. [PMID: 37786894 PMCID: PMC10529147 DOI: 10.1002/ibra.12049] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2021] [Revised: 04/27/2022] [Accepted: 06/05/2022] [Indexed: 10/04/2023]
Abstract
The aim of this article was to analyze the clinical and genetic characteristics of a patient with Huntington's disease and her family. We analyzed the clinical data of a patient with Huntington's disease and her family members in the Department of Neurology of our hospital, drew the genetic pedigree, and used gene fragment analysis to detect and analyze the genes of three people in the family according to the principle of informed consent. The genetic pedigree of the family was consistent with that of autosomal dominant diseases. A total of five people in this family developed the disease, two died, and the main clinical manifestations were dystonia, ataxia, and cognitive impairment. Three people in this family underwent genetic testing, and two exhibited normal genotypes. The cytosine-adenine-guanine trinucleotide (CAG) repeats of the proband were abnormally amplified, and the number of repeats reached 43. The main clinical features of the patient included chronic obscure onset, obvious positive family genetic history, clinical features of involuntary limb movement with cognitive impairment, rapid disease progression, poor treatment effect, and abnormal amplification of CAG repeats as shown through genetic testing. All the above features met the diagnostic criteria of Huntington's disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhong Luo
- Department of NeurologyAffiliated Hospital of Zunyi Medical UniversityZunyiGuizhouChina
| | - Jian Wang
- Department of NeurologyGuizhou Aerospace HospitalZunyiGuizhouChina
| | - Piao Cao
- Department of NeurologyAffiliated Hospital of Zunyi Medical UniversityZunyiGuizhouChina
| | - Lin‐Hai Zhang
- Department of NeurologyAffiliated Hospital of Zunyi Medical UniversityZunyiGuizhouChina
| | - Ren‐Fang Hao
- Department of NeurologyAffiliated Hospital of Zunyi Medical UniversityZunyiGuizhouChina
| | - Tao Liang
- Department of NeurologyAffiliated Hospital of Zunyi Medical UniversityZunyiGuizhouChina
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24
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Warner JH, Long JD, Mills JA, Langbehn DR, Ware J, Mohan A, Sampaio C. Standardizing the CAP Score in Huntington's Disease by Predicting Age-at-Onset. J Huntingtons Dis 2022; 11:153-171. [PMID: 35466943 DOI: 10.3233/jhd-210475] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Huntington's disease (HD) is an autosomal dominant, neurological disease caused by an expanded CAG repeat near the N-terminus of the huntingtin (HTT) gene. A leading theory concerning the etiology of HD is that both onset and progression are driven by cumulative exposure to the effects of mutant (or CAG expanded) huntingtin (mHTT). The CAG-Age-Product (CAP) score (i.e., the product of excess CAG length and age) is a commonly used measure of this cumulative exposure. CAP score has been widely used as a predictor of a variety of disease state variables in HD. The utility of the CAP score has been somewhat diminished, however, by a lack of agreement on its precise definition. The most commonly used forms of the CAP score are highly correlated so that, for purposes of prediction, it makes little difference which is used. However, reported values of CAP scores, based on commonly used definitions, differ substantially in magnitude when applied to the same data. This complicates the process of inter-study comparison. OBJECTIVE In this paper, we propose a standardized definition for the CAP score which will resolve this difficulty. Our standardization is chosen so that CAP = 100 at the expected age of diagnosis. METHODS Statistical methods include novel survival analysis methodology applied to the 13 disease landmarks taken from the Enroll-HD database (PDS 5) and comparisons with the existing, gold standard, onset model. RESULTS Useful by-products of our work include up-to-date, age-at-onset (AO) results and a refined AO model suitable for use in other contexts, a discussion of several useful properties of the CAP score that have not previously been noted in the literature and the introduction of the concept of a toxicity onset model. CONCLUSION We suggest that taking L = 30 and K = 6.49 provides a useful standardization of the CAP score, suitable for use in the routine modeling of clinical data in HD.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Jeffrey D Long
- Departments of Psychiatry, Biostatistics, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA
| | - James A Mills
- Departments of Psychiatry, Biostatistics, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA
| | - Douglas R Langbehn
- Departments of Psychiatry, Biostatistics, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA
| | | | - Amrita Mohan
- CHDI Management/CHDI Foundation, Princeton, NJ, USA
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25
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Peng L, Peng Y, Chen Z, Wang C, Long Z, Peng H, Shi Y, Shen L, Xia K, Leotti VB, Jardim LB, Tang B, Qiu R, Jiang H. The progression rate of spinocerebellar ataxia type 3 varies with disease stage. J Transl Med 2022; 20:226. [PMID: 35568848 PMCID: PMC9107762 DOI: 10.1186/s12967-022-03428-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/12/2022] [Accepted: 05/05/2022] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND In polyglutamine (polyQ) diseases, the identification of modifiers and the construction of prediction model for progression facilitate genetic counseling, clinical management and therapeutic interventions. METHODS Data were derived from the longest longitudinal study, with 642 examinations by International Cooperative Ataxia Rating Scale (ICARS) from 82 SCA3 participants. Using different time scales of disease duration, we performed multiple different linear, quadratic and piece-wise linear growth models to fit the relationship between ICARS scores and duration. Models comparison was employed to determine the best-fitting model according to goodness-of-fit tests, and the analysis of variance among nested models. RESULTS An acceleration was detected after 13 years of duration: ICARS scores progressed 2.445 (SE: 0.185) points/year before and 3.547 (SE: 0.312) points/year after this deadline. Piece-wise growth model fitted better to studied data than other two types of models. The length of expanded CAG repeat (CAGexp) in ATXN3 gene significantly influenced progression. Age at onset of gait ataxia (AOga), a proxy for aging process, was not an independent modifier but affected the correlation between CAGexp and progression. Additionally, gender had no significant effect on progression rate of ICARS. The piece-wise growth models were determined as the predictive models, and ICARS predictions from related models were available. CONCLUSIONS We first confirmed that ICARS progressed as a nonlinear pattern and varied according to different stages in SCA3. In addition to ATXN3 CAGexp, AOga or aging process regulated the progression by interacting with CAGexp.
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Affiliation(s)
- Linliu Peng
- Department of Neurology, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, 410008, Hunan, China
| | - Yun Peng
- Department of Neurology, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, 410008, Hunan, China
| | - Zhao Chen
- Department of Neurology, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, 410008, Hunan, China.,National Clinical Research Center for Geriatric Disorders, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, 410008, Hunan, China.,Key Laboratory of Hunan Province in Neurodegenerative Disorders, Central South University, Changsha, 410008, Hunan, China.,Hunan International Scientific and Technological Cooperation Base of Neurodegenerative and Neurogenetic Diseases, Changsha, China
| | - Chunrong Wang
- Department of Pathology, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, 410008, Hunan, China
| | - Zhe Long
- Department of Neurology, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, 410011, Hunan, China
| | - Huirong Peng
- Department of Neurology, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, 410008, Hunan, China
| | - Yuting Shi
- Department of Neurology, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, 410008, Hunan, China
| | - Lu Shen
- Department of Neurology, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, 410008, Hunan, China.,National Clinical Research Center for Geriatric Disorders, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, 410008, Hunan, China.,Key Laboratory of Hunan Province in Neurodegenerative Disorders, Central South University, Changsha, 410008, Hunan, China.,Hunan International Scientific and Technological Cooperation Base of Neurodegenerative and Neurogenetic Diseases, Changsha, China
| | - Kun Xia
- Center for Medical Genetics, School of Life Sciences, Central South University, Changsha, 410008, Hunan, China.,Hunan Key Laboratory of Medical Genetics, Central South University, Changsha, 410008, Hunan, China
| | - Vanessa B Leotti
- Departamento de Estatística, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Av. Bento Gonçalves, 9500, Porto Alegre, 91509-900, Brazil.,Programa de Pós-Graduação em Epidemiologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Rua Ramiro Barcelos 2400, Porto Alegre, 90035-003, Brazil
| | - Laura Bannach Jardim
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Médicas, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Rua Ramiro Barcelos 2400, Porto Alegre, 90035-903, Brazil.,Departamento de Medicina Interna, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Rua Ramiro Barcelos 2400, Porto Alegre, 90035-903, Brazil.,Medical Genetics Service, Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, Rua Ramiro Barcelos 2350, Porto Alegre, 90035-903, Brazil
| | - Beisha Tang
- Department of Neurology, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, 410008, Hunan, China.,National Clinical Research Center for Geriatric Disorders, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, 410008, Hunan, China.,Key Laboratory of Hunan Province in Neurodegenerative Disorders, Central South University, Changsha, 410008, Hunan, China.,Hunan International Scientific and Technological Cooperation Base of Neurodegenerative and Neurogenetic Diseases, Changsha, China
| | - Rong Qiu
- School of Computer Science and Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, 410083, Hunan, China.
| | - Hong Jiang
- Department of Neurology, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, 410008, Hunan, China. .,School of Basic Medical Science, Central South University, Changsha, 410008, Hunan, China. .,National Clinical Research Center for Geriatric Disorders, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, 410008, Hunan, China. .,Key Laboratory of Hunan Province in Neurodegenerative Disorders, Central South University, Changsha, 410008, Hunan, China. .,Hunan International Scientific and Technological Cooperation Base of Neurodegenerative and Neurogenetic Diseases, Changsha, China.
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26
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Classification of Huntington's Disease Stage with Features Derived from Structural and Diffusion-Weighted Imaging. J Pers Med 2022; 12:jpm12050704. [PMID: 35629126 PMCID: PMC9143912 DOI: 10.3390/jpm12050704] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2022] [Revised: 04/24/2022] [Accepted: 04/25/2022] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to classify Huntington’s disease (HD) stage using support vector machines and measures derived from T1- and diffusion-weighted imaging. The effects of feature selection approach and combination of imaging modalities are assessed. Fourteen premanifest-HD individuals (Pre-HD; on average > 20 years from estimated disease onset), eleven early-manifest HD (Early-HD) patients, and eighteen healthy controls (HC) participated in the study. We compared three feature selection approaches: (i) whole-brain segmented grey matter (GM; voxel-based measure) or fractional anisotropy (FA) values; (ii) GM or FA values from subcortical regions-of-interest (caudate, putamen, pallidum); and (iii) automated selection of GM or FA values with the algorithm Relief-F. We assessed single- and multi-kernel approaches to classify combined GM and FA measures. Significant classifications were achieved between Early-HD and Pre-HD or HC individuals (accuracy: generally, 85% to 95%), and between Pre-HD and controls for the feature FA of the caudate ROI (74% accuracy). The combination of GM and FA measures did not result in higher performances. We demonstrate evidence on the high sensitivity of FA for the classification of the earliest Pre-HD stages, and successful distinction between HD stages.
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27
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Zhang S, Shen L, Jiao B. Cognitive Dysfunction in Repeat Expansion Diseases: A Review. Front Aging Neurosci 2022; 14:841711. [PMID: 35478698 PMCID: PMC9036481 DOI: 10.3389/fnagi.2022.841711] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2021] [Accepted: 02/24/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
With the development of the sequencing technique, more than 40 repeat expansion diseases (REDs) have been identified during the past two decades. Moreover, the clinical features of these diseases show some commonality, and the nervous system, especially the cognitive function was affected in part by these diseases. However, the specific cognitive domains impaired in different diseases were inconsistent. Here, we survey literature on the cognitive consequences of the following disorders presenting cognitive dysfunction and summarizing the pathogenic genes, epidemiology, and different domains affected by these diseases. We found that the cognitive domains affected in neuronal intranuclear inclusion disease (NIID) were widespread including the executive function, memory, information processing speed, attention, visuospatial function, and language. Patients with C9ORF72-frontotemporal dementia (FTD) showed impairment in executive function, memory, language, and visuospatial function. While in Huntington's disease (HD), the executive function, memory, and information processing speed were affected, in the fragile X-associated tremor/ataxia syndrome (FXTAS), executive function, memory, information processing speed, and attention were impaired. Moreover, the spinocerebellar ataxias showed broad damage in almost all the cognitive domains except for the relatively intact language ability. Some other diseases with relatively rare clinical data also indicated cognitive dysfunction, such as myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1), progressive myoclonus epilepsy (PME), Friedreich ataxia (FRDA), Huntington disease like-2 (HDL2), and cerebellar ataxia, neuropathy, vestibular areflexia syndrome (CANVAS). We drew a cognitive function landscape of the related REDs that might provide an aspect for differential diagnosis through cognitive domains and effective non-specific interventions for these diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sizhe Zhang
- Department of Neurology, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Lu Shen
- Department of Neurology, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
- National Clinical Research Center for Geriatric Disorders, Central South University, Changsha, China
- Engineering Research Center of Hunan Province in Cognitive Impairment Disorders, Central South University, Changsha, China
- Hunan International Scientific and Technological Cooperation Base of Neurodegenerative and Neurogenetic Diseases, Changsha, China
- Key Laboratory of Hunan Province in Neurodegenerative Disorders, Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Bin Jiao
- Department of Neurology, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
- National Clinical Research Center for Geriatric Disorders, Central South University, Changsha, China
- Engineering Research Center of Hunan Province in Cognitive Impairment Disorders, Central South University, Changsha, China
- Hunan International Scientific and Technological Cooperation Base of Neurodegenerative and Neurogenetic Diseases, Changsha, China
- Key Laboratory of Hunan Province in Neurodegenerative Disorders, Central South University, Changsha, China
- *Correspondence: Bin Jiao
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28
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Ramirez-Garcia G, Galvez V, Diaz R, Campos-Romo A, Fernandez-Ruiz J. Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) performance in Huntington's disease patients correlates with cortical and caudate atrophy. PeerJ 2022; 10:e12917. [PMID: 35402100 PMCID: PMC8988933 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.12917] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/03/2021] [Accepted: 01/20/2022] [Indexed: 01/11/2023] Open
Abstract
Huntington's Disease (HD) is an autosomal neurodegenerative disease characterized by motor, cognitive, and psychiatric symptoms. Cognitive impairment develops gradually in HD patients, progressing later into a severe cognitive dysfunction. The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) is a brief screening test commonly employed to detect mild cognitive impairment, which has also been useful to assess cognitive decline in HD patients. However, the relationship between MoCA performance and brain structural integrity in HD patients remains unclear. Therefore, to explore this relationship we analyzed if cortical thinning and subcortical nuclei volume differences correlated with HD patients' MoCA performance. Twenty-two HD patients and twenty-two healthy subjects participated in this study. T1-weighted images were acquired to analyze cortical thickness and subcortical nuclei volumes. Group comparison analysis showed a significantly lower score in the MoCA global performance of HD patients. Also, the MoCA total score correlated with cortical thinning of fronto-parietal and temporo-occipital cortices, as well as with bilateral caudate volume differences in HD patients. These results provide new insights into the effectiveness of using the MoCA test to detect cognitive impairment and the brain atrophy pattern associated with the cognitive status of prodromal/early HD patients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gabriel Ramirez-Garcia
- Departamento de Fisiología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico, Ciudad de Mexico, Mexico
| | - Victor Galvez
- Escuela de Psicología, Universidad Panamericana, Ciudad de Mexico, Mexico
| | - Rosalinda Diaz
- Departamento de Fisiología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico, Ciudad de Mexico, Mexico
| | - Aurelio Campos-Romo
- Facultad de Medicina, Unidad Periférica de Neurociencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México/Instituto Nacional de Neurologia y Neurocirugia, Ciudad de Mexico, Mexico
| | - Juan Fernandez-Ruiz
- Departamento de Fisiología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico, Ciudad de Mexico, Mexico
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29
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Srinivasan E, Ram V, Rajasekaran R. A review on Huntington protein Insight into protein aggregation and therapeutic interventions. Curr Drug Metab 2022; 23:260-282. [PMID: 35319359 DOI: 10.2174/1389200223666220321103942] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/11/2021] [Revised: 12/13/2021] [Accepted: 01/15/2022] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Huntington disease (HD) is a distressing, innate neurodegenerative disease that descends from CAG repeat expansion in the huntingtin gene causing behavioral changes, motor dysfunction, and dementia in children and adults. Mutation in huntingtin (HTT) protein has been suggested to cause neuron loss in the cortex and striatum through various mechanisms including abnormal regulation of transcription, proteasomal dysfunction, post-translational modification, and other events, regulating toxicity. Pathogenesis of HD involves cleavage of the huntingtin protein followed by the neuronal accumulation of its aggregated form. Several research groups made possible efforts to reduce huntingtin gene expression, protein accumulation, and protein aggregation using inhibitors and molecular chaperones as developing drugs against HD. Herein, we review the mechanism proposed towards the formation of HTT protein aggregation and the impact of therapeutic strategies for the treatment of HD.
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Affiliation(s)
- E Srinivasan
- Department of Biotechnology, School of Bio Sciences and Technology, Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore - 632014, Tamil Nadu, India
- Department of Bioinformatics, Saveetha School of Engineering, Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences (SIMATS), Thandalam, Chennai - 602105, Tamil Nadu, India
| | - Vavish Ram
- Bioinformatics Lab, Department of Biotechnology, School of Bio Sciences and Technology, Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore - 632014, Tamil Nadu, India
| | - R Rajasekaran
- Bioinformatics Lab, Department of Biotechnology, School of Bio Sciences and Technology, Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore - 632014, Tamil Nadu, India
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Langbehn DR, Fine EM, Meier A, Hersch S. Utility of the Huntington's Disease Prognostic Index Score for a Perimanifest Clinical Trial. Mov Disord 2022; 37:1040-1046. [PMID: 35170086 PMCID: PMC9306552 DOI: 10.1002/mds.28944] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/12/2021] [Accepted: 01/03/2022] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Subtle neurodegenerative motor and cognitive impairments accumulate over a prodromal period several years before clinical diagnosis of Huntington's disease (HD). The inclusion of prodromal individuals in therapeutic trials would facilitate testing of therapies early in the disease course and the development of treatments intended to prevent or delay disability. Objectives We evaluate the normalized prognostic index (PIN) score as a tool to select participants for a perimanifest trial. We explore anticipated PIN‐based inclusion rates from the preHD screening population and estimate sample‐size requirements based on PIN threshold, trial duration, and outcome measure. Methods Individual participant data from ENROLL‐HD were used to fit mixed effect linear models to assess longitudinal changes in clinical metrics for participants with early‐manifest HD and PIN‐stratified preHD subcohorts. Results A PIN threshold of 0.0 was met by 40% of the preHD participants in ENROLL‐HD; 39.4% and 55.2% progressed to new diagnoses of early‐manifest HD within 2 and 3 years, respectively. Various PIN thresholds also enabled the selection of specified ratios of prodromal preHD to early manifest HD participants for a perimanifest trial. Estimated sample sizes for a trial enrolling prodromal preHD (PIN > 0.0) and stage 1 and 2 motor‐diagnosed participants varied depending on the composition of the screening pool, the length of follow‐up (1, 2, or 3 years), and outcome measure. Conclusions The composition of a perimanifest clinical trial population can be defined using preselected PIN thresholds, facilitating the assessment of potential disease‐modifying therapies in HD. © 2022 Voyager Therapeutics, Inc. Movement Disorders published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of International Parkinson Movement Disorder Society.
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Affiliation(s)
- Douglas R Langbehn
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, Psychiatry Research, Iowa City, Iowa, USA
| | | | - Andreas Meier
- Voyager Therapeutics, Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Steven Hersch
- Voyager Therapeutics, Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.,Eisai Inc., Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey, USA.,Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
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Tahmaz I, Shahmoradi Ghahe S, Topf U. Prefoldin Function in Cellular Protein Homeostasis and Human Diseases. Front Cell Dev Biol 2022; 9:816214. [PMID: 35111762 PMCID: PMC8801880 DOI: 10.3389/fcell.2021.816214] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/16/2021] [Accepted: 12/29/2021] [Indexed: 01/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Cellular functions are largely performed by proteins. Defects in the production, folding, or removal of proteins from the cell lead to perturbations in cellular functions that can result in pathological conditions for the organism. In cells, molecular chaperones are part of a network of surveillance mechanisms that maintains a functional proteome. Chaperones are involved in the folding of newly synthesized polypeptides and assist in refolding misfolded proteins and guiding proteins for degradation. The present review focuses on the molecular co-chaperone prefoldin. Its canonical function in eukaryotes involves the transfer of newly synthesized polypeptides of cytoskeletal proteins to the tailless complex polypeptide 1 ring complex (TRiC/CCT) chaperonin which assists folding of the polypeptide chain in an energy-dependent manner. The canonical function of prefoldin is well established, but recent research suggests its broader function in the maintenance of protein homeostasis under physiological and pathological conditions. Interestingly, non-canonical functions were identified for the prefoldin complex and also for its individual subunits. We discuss the latest findings on the prefoldin complex and its subunits in the regulation of transcription and proteasome-dependent protein degradation and its role in neurological diseases, cancer, viral infections and rare anomalies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ismail Tahmaz
- Laboratory of Molecular Basis of Aging and Rejuvenation, Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Somayeh Shahmoradi Ghahe
- Laboratory of Molecular Basis of Aging and Rejuvenation, Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Ulrike Topf
- Laboratory of Molecular Basis of Aging and Rejuvenation, Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
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Langbehn DR. Longer CAG repeat length is associated with shorter survival after disease onset in Huntington disease. Am J Hum Genet 2022; 109:172-179. [PMID: 34942093 DOI: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2021.12.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2021] [Accepted: 12/03/2021] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
It is well known that the length of the CAG trinucleotide expansion of the huntingtin gene is associated with many aspects of Huntington disease progression. These include age of clinical onset and rate of initial progression of disease severity. The relationship between CAG length and survival in Huntington disease is less studied. To address this, we obtained the complete Registry HD database from the European Huntington Disease Network and reanalyzed the time from reported age of disease onset until death. We conducted semiparametric proportional hazards modeling of 8,422 participants who had experienced onset of clinical Huntington disease, either retrospectively or prospectively. Of these, 826 had a recorded age of death. To avoid biased model estimates, retrospective onset ages were represented by left truncation at study entry. After controlling for onset age, which tends to be younger in those with longer CAG repeat lengths, we found that CAG length had a substantial and highly significant influence upon survival time after disease onset. For a fixed age of onset, longer CAG expansions were predictive of shorter survival. This is consistent with other known relationships between CAG length and disease severity. We also show that older onset age predicts shorter lifespan after controlling for CAG length and that the influence of CAG on survival length is substantially greater in women. We demonstrate that apparent contradictions between these and previous analyses of the same data are primarily due to the question of whether to control for clinical onset age in the analysis of time until death.
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Affiliation(s)
- Douglas R Langbehn
- Departments of Psychiatry and Biostatistics, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA.
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Alpaugh M, Denis HL, Cicchetti F. Prion-like properties of the mutant huntingtin protein in living organisms: the evidence and the relevance. Mol Psychiatry 2022; 27:269-280. [PMID: 34711942 DOI: 10.1038/s41380-021-01350-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
If theories postulating that pathological proteins associated with neurodegenerative disorders behave similarly to prions were initially viewed with reluctance, it is now well-accepted that this occurs in several disease contexts. Notably, it has been reported that protein misfolding and subsequent prion-like properties can actively participate in neurodegenerative disorders. While this has been demonstrated in multiple cellular and animal model systems related to Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, the prion-like properties of the mutant huntingtin protein (mHTT), associated with Huntington's disease (HD), have only recently been considered to play a role in this pathology, a concept our research group has contributed to extensively. In this review, we summarize the last few years of in vivo research in the field and speculate on the relationship between prion-like events and human HD. By interpreting observations primarily collected in in vivo models, our discussion will aim to discriminate which experimental factors contribute to the most efficient types of prion-like activities of mHTT and which routes of propagation may be more relevant to the human condition. A look back at nearly a decade of experimentation will inform future research and whether therapeutic strategies may emerge from this new knowledge.
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Affiliation(s)
- Melanie Alpaugh
- Centre de Recherche du CHU de Québec - Université Laval, Axe Neurosciences, Québec, QC, G1V 4G2, Canada.,Département de Psychiatrie & Neurosciences, Université Laval, Québec, QC, G1V 0A6, Canada
| | - Hélèna L Denis
- Centre de Recherche du CHU de Québec - Université Laval, Axe Neurosciences, Québec, QC, G1V 4G2, Canada.,Département de Psychiatrie & Neurosciences, Université Laval, Québec, QC, G1V 0A6, Canada
| | - Francesca Cicchetti
- Centre de Recherche du CHU de Québec - Université Laval, Axe Neurosciences, Québec, QC, G1V 4G2, Canada. .,Département de Psychiatrie & Neurosciences, Université Laval, Québec, QC, G1V 0A6, Canada.
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Phillips GR, Saville JT, Hancock SE, Brown SHJ, Jenner AM, McLean C, Fuller M, Newell KA, Mitchell TW. The long and the short of Huntington’s disease: how the sphingolipid profile is shifted in the caudate of advanced clinical cases. Brain Commun 2021; 4:fcab303. [PMID: 35169703 PMCID: PMC8833324 DOI: 10.1093/braincomms/fcab303] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/14/2021] [Revised: 09/27/2021] [Accepted: 12/21/2021] [Indexed: 01/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Huntington’s disease is a devastating neurodegenerative disorder that onsets in late adulthood as progressive and terminal cognitive, psychiatric and motor deficits. The disease is genetic, triggered by a CAG repeat (polyQ) expansion mutation in the Huntingtin gene and resultant huntingtin protein. Although the mutant huntingtin protein is ubiquitously expressed, the striatum degenerates early and consistently in the disease. The polyQ mutation at the N-terminus of the huntingtin protein alters its natural interactions with neural phospholipids in vitro, suggesting that the specific lipid composition of brain regions could influence their vulnerability to interference by mutant huntingtin; however, this has not yet been demonstrated in vivo. Sphingolipids are critical cell signalling molecules, second messengers and membrane components. Despite evidence of sphingolipid disturbance in Huntington’s mouse and cell models, there is limited knowledge of how these lipids are affected in human brain tissue. Using post-mortem brain tissue from five brain regions implicated in Huntington’s disease (control n = 13, Huntington’s n = 13), this study aimed to identify where and how sphingolipid species are affected in the brain of clinically advanced Huntington’s cases. Sphingolipids were extracted from the tissue and analysed using targeted mass spectrometry analysis; proteins were analysed by western blot. The caudate, putamen and cerebellum had distinct sphingolipid changes in Huntington’s brain whilst the white and grey frontal cortex were spared. The caudate of Huntington’s patients had a shifted sphingolipid profile, favouring long (C13–C21) over very-long-chain (C22–C26) ceramides, sphingomyelins and lactosylceramides. Ceramide synthase 1, which synthesizes the long-chain sphingolipids, had a reduced expression in Huntington’s caudate, correlating positively with a younger age at death and a longer CAG repeat length of the Huntington’s patients. The expression of ceramide synthase 2, which synthesizes very-long-chain sphingolipids, was not different in Huntington’s brain. However, there was evidence of possible post-translational modifications in the Huntington’s patients only. Post-translational modifications to ceramide synthase 2 may be driving the distinctive sphingolipid profile shifts of the caudate in advanced Huntington’s disease. This shift in the sphingolipid profile is also found in the most severely affected brain regions of several other neurodegenerative conditions and may be an important feature of region-specific cell dysfunction in neurodegenerative disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gabrielle R. Phillips
- Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia
- School of Medicine, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia
- Molecular Horizons, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia
| | - Jennifer T. Saville
- Genetics and Molecular Pathology, SA Pathology at Women’s and Children’s Hospital, North Adelaide, SA 5006, Australia
| | - Sarah E. Hancock
- School of Medical Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
| | - Simon H. J. Brown
- Molecular Horizons, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia
- School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia
| | - Andrew M. Jenner
- Bioanalytical Mass Spectrometry Facility, Mark Wainwright Analytical Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
| | - Catriona McLean
- Department of Anatomical Pathology, Alfred Health and Florey Neuroscience, Parkville, VIC 3052, Australia
| | - Maria Fuller
- Genetics and Molecular Pathology, SA Pathology at Women’s and Children’s Hospital, North Adelaide, SA 5006, Australia
- Adelaide Medical School, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia
| | - Kelly A. Newell
- Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia
- School of Medicine, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia
- Molecular Horizons, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia
| | - Todd W. Mitchell
- Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia
- School of Medicine, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia
- Molecular Horizons, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia
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Kinnunen KM, Schwarz AJ, Turner EC, Pustina D, Gantman EC, Gordon MF, Joules R, Mullin AP, Scahill RI, Georgiou-Karistianis N. Volumetric MRI-Based Biomarkers in Huntington's Disease: An Evidentiary Review. Front Neurol 2021; 12:712555. [PMID: 34621236 PMCID: PMC8490802 DOI: 10.3389/fneur.2021.712555] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/20/2021] [Accepted: 08/10/2021] [Indexed: 01/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Huntington's disease (HD) is an autosomal-dominant inherited neurodegenerative disorder that is caused by expansion of a CAG-repeat tract in the huntingtin gene and characterized by motor impairment, cognitive decline, and neuropsychiatric disturbances. Neuropathological studies show that disease progression follows a characteristic pattern of brain atrophy, beginning in the basal ganglia structures. The HD Regulatory Science Consortium (HD-RSC) brings together diverse stakeholders in the HD community—biopharmaceutical industry, academia, nonprofit, and patient advocacy organizations—to define and address regulatory needs to accelerate HD therapeutic development. Here, the Biomarker Working Group of the HD-RSC summarizes the cross-sectional evidence indicating that regional brain volumes, as measured by volumetric magnetic resonance imaging, are reduced in HD and are correlated with disease characteristics. We also evaluate the relationship between imaging measures and clinical change, their longitudinal change characteristics, and within-individual longitudinal associations of imaging with disease progression. This analysis will be valuable in assessing pharmacodynamics in clinical trials and supporting clinical outcome assessments to evaluate treatment effects on neurodegeneration.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Adam J Schwarz
- Takeda Pharmaceuticals, Ltd., Cambridge, MA, United States
| | | | - Dorian Pustina
- CHDI Management/CHDI Foundation, Princeton, NJ, United States
| | - Emily C Gantman
- CHDI Management/CHDI Foundation, Princeton, NJ, United States
| | - Mark F Gordon
- Teva Pharmaceuticals, West Chester, PA, United States
| | | | - Ariana P Mullin
- Critical Path Institute, Tucson, AZ, United States.,Wave Life Sciences, Ltd., Cambridge, MA, United States
| | - Rachael I Scahill
- Huntington's Disease Research Centre, UCL Institute of Neurology, London, United Kingdom
| | - Nellie Georgiou-Karistianis
- School of Psychological Sciences and Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
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36
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Wijeratne PA, Garbarino S, Gregory S, Johnson EB, Scahill RI, Paulsen JS, Tabrizi SJ, Lorenzi M, Alexander DC. Revealing the Timeline of Structural MRI Changes in Premanifest to Manifest Huntington Disease. Neurol Genet 2021; 7:e617. [PMID: 34660889 PMCID: PMC8515202 DOI: 10.1212/nxg.0000000000000617] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/07/2021] [Accepted: 07/06/2021] [Indexed: 01/18/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Longitudinal measurements of brain atrophy using structural MRI (sMRI) can provide powerful markers for tracking disease progression in neurodegenerative diseases. In this study, we use a disease progression model to learn individual-level disease times and hence reveal a new timeline of sMRI changes in Huntington disease (HD). METHODS We use data from the 2 largest cohort imaging studies in HD-284 participants from TRACK-HD (100 control, 104 premanifest, and 80 manifest) and 159 participants from PREDICT-HD (36 control and 128 premanifest)-to train and test the model. We longitudinally register T1-weighted sMRI scans from 3 consecutive time points to reduce intraindividual variability and calculate regional brain volumes using an automated segmentation tool with rigorous manual quality control. RESULTS Our model reveals, for the first time, the relative magnitude and timescale of subcortical and cortical atrophy changes in HD. We find that the largest (∼20% average change in magnitude) and earliest (∼2 years before average abnormality) changes occur in the subcortex (pallidum, putamen, and caudate), followed by a cascade of changes across other subcortical and cortical regions over a period of ∼11 years. We also show that sMRI, when combined with our disease progression model, provides improved prediction of onset over the current best method (root mean square error = 4.5 years and maximum error = 7.9 years vs root mean square error = 6.6 years and maximum error = 18.2 years). DISCUSSION Our findings support the use of disease progression modeling to reveal new information from sMRI, which can potentially inform imaging marker selection for clinical trials.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peter A. Wijeratne
- From the Centre for Medical Image Computing (P.A.W., D.C.A.), Department of Computer Science, University College London, Gower Street; Huntington's Disease Research Centre (P.A.W., S. Gregory, E.B.J., R.I.S., S.J.T.), Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, University College London, Queen Square Institute of Neurology, London, United Kingdom; Dipartimento di Matematica (S. Garbarino), UNIGE, DIMA, Genova, Italy; Departments of Neurology and Psychiatry (J.S.P.), Carver College of Medicine, University of Iowa; and Université Côte d’Azur (M.L.), Inria, Epione Research Project, Valbonne, France
| | - Sara Garbarino
- From the Centre for Medical Image Computing (P.A.W., D.C.A.), Department of Computer Science, University College London, Gower Street; Huntington's Disease Research Centre (P.A.W., S. Gregory, E.B.J., R.I.S., S.J.T.), Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, University College London, Queen Square Institute of Neurology, London, United Kingdom; Dipartimento di Matematica (S. Garbarino), UNIGE, DIMA, Genova, Italy; Departments of Neurology and Psychiatry (J.S.P.), Carver College of Medicine, University of Iowa; and Université Côte d’Azur (M.L.), Inria, Epione Research Project, Valbonne, France
| | - Sarah Gregory
- From the Centre for Medical Image Computing (P.A.W., D.C.A.), Department of Computer Science, University College London, Gower Street; Huntington's Disease Research Centre (P.A.W., S. Gregory, E.B.J., R.I.S., S.J.T.), Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, University College London, Queen Square Institute of Neurology, London, United Kingdom; Dipartimento di Matematica (S. Garbarino), UNIGE, DIMA, Genova, Italy; Departments of Neurology and Psychiatry (J.S.P.), Carver College of Medicine, University of Iowa; and Université Côte d’Azur (M.L.), Inria, Epione Research Project, Valbonne, France
| | - Eileanoir B. Johnson
- From the Centre for Medical Image Computing (P.A.W., D.C.A.), Department of Computer Science, University College London, Gower Street; Huntington's Disease Research Centre (P.A.W., S. Gregory, E.B.J., R.I.S., S.J.T.), Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, University College London, Queen Square Institute of Neurology, London, United Kingdom; Dipartimento di Matematica (S. Garbarino), UNIGE, DIMA, Genova, Italy; Departments of Neurology and Psychiatry (J.S.P.), Carver College of Medicine, University of Iowa; and Université Côte d’Azur (M.L.), Inria, Epione Research Project, Valbonne, France
| | - Rachael I. Scahill
- From the Centre for Medical Image Computing (P.A.W., D.C.A.), Department of Computer Science, University College London, Gower Street; Huntington's Disease Research Centre (P.A.W., S. Gregory, E.B.J., R.I.S., S.J.T.), Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, University College London, Queen Square Institute of Neurology, London, United Kingdom; Dipartimento di Matematica (S. Garbarino), UNIGE, DIMA, Genova, Italy; Departments of Neurology and Psychiatry (J.S.P.), Carver College of Medicine, University of Iowa; and Université Côte d’Azur (M.L.), Inria, Epione Research Project, Valbonne, France
| | - Jane S. Paulsen
- From the Centre for Medical Image Computing (P.A.W., D.C.A.), Department of Computer Science, University College London, Gower Street; Huntington's Disease Research Centre (P.A.W., S. Gregory, E.B.J., R.I.S., S.J.T.), Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, University College London, Queen Square Institute of Neurology, London, United Kingdom; Dipartimento di Matematica (S. Garbarino), UNIGE, DIMA, Genova, Italy; Departments of Neurology and Psychiatry (J.S.P.), Carver College of Medicine, University of Iowa; and Université Côte d’Azur (M.L.), Inria, Epione Research Project, Valbonne, France
| | - Sarah J. Tabrizi
- From the Centre for Medical Image Computing (P.A.W., D.C.A.), Department of Computer Science, University College London, Gower Street; Huntington's Disease Research Centre (P.A.W., S. Gregory, E.B.J., R.I.S., S.J.T.), Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, University College London, Queen Square Institute of Neurology, London, United Kingdom; Dipartimento di Matematica (S. Garbarino), UNIGE, DIMA, Genova, Italy; Departments of Neurology and Psychiatry (J.S.P.), Carver College of Medicine, University of Iowa; and Université Côte d’Azur (M.L.), Inria, Epione Research Project, Valbonne, France
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Wijeratne PA, Johnson EB, Gregory S, Georgiou-Karistianis N, Paulsen JS, Scahill RI, Tabrizi SJ, Alexander DC. A Multi-Study Model-Based Evaluation of the Sequence of Imaging and Clinical Biomarker Changes in Huntington's Disease. Front Big Data 2021; 4:662200. [PMID: 34423286 PMCID: PMC8374237 DOI: 10.3389/fdata.2021.662200] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2021] [Accepted: 07/07/2021] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Understanding the order and progression of change in biomarkers of neurodegeneration is essential to detect the effects of pharmacological interventions on these biomarkers. In Huntington’s disease (HD), motor, cognitive and MRI biomarkers are currently used in clinical trials of drug efficacy. Here for the first time we use directly compare data from three large observational studies of HD (total N = 532) using a probabilistic event-based model (EBM) to characterise the order in which motor, cognitive and MRI biomarkers become abnormal. We also investigate the impact of the genetic cause of HD, cytosine-adenine-guanine (CAG) repeat length, on progression through these stages. We find that EBM uncovers a broadly consistent order of events across all three studies; that EBM stage reflects clinical stage; and that EBM stage is related to age and genetic burden. Our findings indicate that measures of subcortical and white matter volume become abnormal prior to clinical and cognitive biomarkers. Importantly, CAG repeat length has a large impact on the timing of onset of each stage and progression through the stages, with a longer repeat length resulting in earlier onset and faster progression. Our results can be used to help design clinical trials of treatments for Huntington’s disease, influencing the choice of biomarkers and the recruitment of participants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peter A Wijeratne
- Centre for Medical Image Computing, Department of Computer Science, University College London, London, United Kingdom.,Huntington's Disease Research Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, University College London, Queen Square Institute of Neurology, London, United Kingdom
| | - Eileanoir B Johnson
- Huntington's Disease Research Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, University College London, Queen Square Institute of Neurology, London, United Kingdom
| | - Sarah Gregory
- Huntington's Disease Research Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, University College London, Queen Square Institute of Neurology, London, United Kingdom
| | - Nellie Georgiou-Karistianis
- Monash Institute of Cognitive and Clinical Neurosciences, School of Psychological Sciences, Faculty of Nursing, Medicine, and Health Sciences, Monash University Clayton Campus, Clayton, VIC, Australia
| | - Jane S Paulsen
- Departments of Neurology and Psychiatry, Carver College of Medicine, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, United States
| | - Rachael I Scahill
- Huntington's Disease Research Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, University College London, Queen Square Institute of Neurology, London, United Kingdom
| | - Sarah J Tabrizi
- Huntington's Disease Research Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, University College London, Queen Square Institute of Neurology, London, United Kingdom
| | - Daniel C Alexander
- Centre for Medical Image Computing, Department of Computer Science, University College London, London, United Kingdom
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Ghazaleh N, Houghton R, Palermo G, Schobel SA, Wijeratne PA, Long JD. Ranking the Predictive Power of Clinical and Biological Features Associated With Disease Progression in Huntington's Disease. Front Neurol 2021; 12:678484. [PMID: 34093422 PMCID: PMC8176643 DOI: 10.3389/fneur.2021.678484] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/09/2021] [Accepted: 04/26/2021] [Indexed: 12/01/2022] Open
Abstract
Huntington's disease (HD) is characterised by a triad of cognitive, behavioural, and motor symptoms which lead to functional decline and loss of independence. With potential disease-modifying therapies in development, there is interest in accurately measuring HD progression and characterising prognostic variables to improve efficiency of clinical trials. Using the large, prospective Enroll-HD cohort, we investigated the relative contribution and ranking of potential prognostic variables in patients with manifest HD. A random forest regression model was trained to predict change of clinical outcomes based on the variables, which were ranked based on their contribution to the prediction. The highest-ranked variables included novel predictors of progression—being accompanied at clinical visit, cognitive impairment, age at diagnosis and tetrabenazine or antipsychotics use—in addition to established predictors, cytosine adenine guanine (CAG) repeat length and CAG-age product. The novel prognostic variables improved the ability of the model to predict clinical outcomes and may be candidates for statistical control in HD clinical studies.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | - Peter A Wijeratne
- Department of Computer Science, Centre for Medical Imaging Computing, University College London, London, United Kingdom.,Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, Huntington's Disease Research Centre, Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Jeffrey D Long
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, United States.,Department of Biostatistics, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, United States
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Johnson EB, Ziegler G, Penny W, Rees G, Tabrizi SJ, Scahill RI, Gregory S. Dynamics of Cortical Degeneration Over a Decade in Huntington's Disease. Biol Psychiatry 2021; 89:807-816. [PMID: 33500176 PMCID: PMC7986936 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2020.11.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/06/2020] [Revised: 10/14/2020] [Accepted: 11/08/2020] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Characterizing changing brain structure in neurodegeneration is fundamental to understanding long-term effects of pathology and ultimately providing therapeutic targets. It is well established that Huntington's disease (HD) gene carriers undergo progressive brain changes during the course of disease, yet the long-term trajectory of cortical atrophy is not well defined. Given that genetic therapies currently tested in HD are primarily expected to target the cortex, understanding atrophy across this region is essential. METHODS Capitalizing on a unique longitudinal dataset with a minimum of 3 and maximum of 7 brain scans from 49 HD gene carriers and 49 age-matched control subjects, we implemented a novel dynamical systems approach to infer patterns of regional neurodegeneration over 10 years. We use Bayesian hierarchical modeling to map participant- and group-level trajectories of atrophy spatially and temporally, additionally relating atrophy to the genetic marker of HD (CAG-repeat length) and motor and cognitive symptoms. RESULTS We show, for the first time, that neurodegenerative changes exhibit complex temporal dynamics with substantial regional variation around the point of clinical diagnosis. Although widespread group differences were seen across the cortex, the occipital and parietal regions undergo the greatest rate of cortical atrophy. We have established links between atrophy and genetic markers of HD while demonstrating that specific cortical changes predict decline in motor and cognitive performance. CONCLUSIONS HD gene carriers display regional variability in the spatial pattern of cortical atrophy, which relates to genetic factors and motor and cognitive symptoms. Our findings indicate a complex pattern of neuronal loss, which enables greater characterization of HD progression.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eileanoir B Johnson
- Huntington's Disease Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, United Kingdom.
| | - Gabriel Ziegler
- Institute of Cognitive Neurology and Dementia Research, Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Germany; German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, Magdeburg, Germany.
| | - William Penny
- School of Psychology, University of East Anglia, Norwich, United Kingdom
| | - Geraint Rees
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Sarah J Tabrizi
- Huntington's Disease Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, United Kingdom; Dementia Research Institute at University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Rachael I Scahill
- Huntington's Disease Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Sarah Gregory
- Huntington's Disease Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, United Kingdom
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Donaldson J, Powell S, Rickards N, Holmans P, Jones L. What is the Pathogenic CAG Expansion Length in Huntington's Disease? J Huntingtons Dis 2021; 10:175-202. [PMID: 33579866 PMCID: PMC7990448 DOI: 10.3233/jhd-200445] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
Huntington's disease (HD) (OMIM 143100) is caused by an expanded CAG repeat tract in the HTT gene. The inherited CAG length is known to expand further in somatic and germline cells in HD subjects. Age at onset of the disease is inversely correlated with the inherited CAG length, but is further modulated by a series of genetic modifiers which are most likely to act on the CAG repeat in HTT that permit it to further expand. Longer repeats are more prone to expansions, and this expansion is age dependent and tissue-specific. Given that the inherited tract expands through life and most subjects develop disease in mid-life, this implies that in cells that degenerate, the CAG length is likely to be longer than the inherited length. These findings suggest two thresholds- the inherited CAG length which permits further expansion, and the intracellular pathogenic threshold, above which cells become dysfunctional and die. This two-step mechanism has been previously proposed and modelled mathematically to give an intracellular pathogenic threshold at a tract length of 115 CAG (95% confidence intervals 70- 165 CAG). Empirically, the intracellular pathogenic threshold is difficult to determine. Clues from studies of people and models of HD, and from other diseases caused by expanded repeat tracts, place this threshold between 60- 100 CAG, most likely towards the upper part of that range. We assess this evidence and discuss how the intracellular pathogenic threshold in manifest disease might be better determined. Knowing the cellular pathogenic threshold would be informative for both understanding the mechanism in HD and deploying treatments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jasmine Donaldson
- MRC Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics, School of Medicine, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK
| | - Sophie Powell
- MRC Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics, School of Medicine, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK
| | - Nadia Rickards
- MRC Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics, School of Medicine, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK
| | - Peter Holmans
- MRC Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics, School of Medicine, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK
| | - Lesley Jones
- MRC Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics, School of Medicine, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK
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Martinez-Horta S, Sampedro F, Horta-Barba A, Perez-Perez J, Pagonabarraga J, Gomez-Anson B, Kulisevsky J. Structural brain correlates of dementia in Huntington's disease. NEUROIMAGE-CLINICAL 2020; 28:102415. [PMID: 32979842 PMCID: PMC7519361 DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2020.102415] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2020] [Revised: 09/01/2020] [Accepted: 09/03/2020] [Indexed: 01/18/2023]
Abstract
Dementia may occur in the early stages of HD and with independence of disease burden. More severe posterior-cortical atrophy is associated with dementia in HD. Neuropsychological alterations of dementia in HD extends beyond executive dysfunction. CAG-independent neuropathological mechanisms may contribute to dementia in HD.
Background Huntington’s disease (HD) is a fatal genetic neurodegenerative disorder with no effective treatment currently available. Progressive basal ganglia and whole-brain atrophy and concurrent cognitive deterioration are prototypical aspects of HD. However, the specific patterns of brain atrophy underlying cognitive impairment of different severity in HD are poorly understood. The aim of this study was to investigate the specific structural brain correlates of major cognitive deficits in HD and to explore its association with neuropsychological indicators. Participants Thirty-five symptomatic early-to-mild HD patients and 15 healthy controls (HC) with available T1-MRI imaging were included in this study. Methods In this cross-sectional study, HD patients were classified as patients with (HD-Dem) and without (HD-ND) major cognitive impairment in the range of dementia. This classification was based on previously validated PD-CRS cutoff scores for HD. Differences in brain atrophy across groups were studied by means of grey-matter volume voxel-based morphometry (GMV-VBM) and cortical thickness (Cth). Voxelwise and vertexwise general linear models were used to assess the group comparisons, controlling for the effects of age, sex, education, CAG repeat length and severity of motor symptoms. Clusters surviving p < 0.05 and family-wise error (FWE) correction were considered statistically significant. In order to characterize the impact on cognitive performance of the observed brain differences across groups, GMV and Cth values in the set of significant regions were computed and correlated with specific neuropsychological tests. Results All groups had similar sociodemographic profiles, and the HD groups did not significantly differ in terms of CAG repeat length. Compared to HC, both HD groups exhibited significant atrophy in multiple subcortical and parietal brain regions. However, compared to HC and HD-ND groups, HD-Dem patients showed a more prominent pattern of reduced GMV and cortical thinning. Importantly, this thinning was restricted to regions of the parietal-temporal and occipital cortices. Furthermore, these brain alterations were further associated with poorer cognitive performance in tasks assessing frontal-executive and attention domains as well as memory, language and constructional abilities. Conclusions Major cognitive impairment in the range of dementia in HD is associated with brain and cognitive alterations exceeding the prototypical frontal-executive deficits commonly recognized in HD. The observed posterior-cortical damage identified by MRI and its association with memory, language, and visuoconstructive dysfunction suggest a strong involvement of extra-striatal atrophy in the onset of severe cognitive dysfunction in HD patients. Critically, major cognitive impairment in this sample was not associated with CAG repeat length, age or education. This finding could support a possible involvement of additional neuropathological mechanisms aggravating cognitive deterioration in HD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Saul Martinez-Horta
- Movement Disorders Unit, Neurology Department, Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Barcelona, Spain; Biomedical Research Institute (IIB-Sant Pau), Barcelona, Spain; Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red-Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas (CIBERNED), Spain; Autonomous University of Barcelona, Department of Medicine, Spain; European Huntington's Disease Network (EHDN), Spain
| | - Frederic Sampedro
- Movement Disorders Unit, Neurology Department, Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Barcelona, Spain; Biomedical Research Institute (IIB-Sant Pau), Barcelona, Spain; Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red-Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas (CIBERNED), Spain
| | - Andrea Horta-Barba
- Movement Disorders Unit, Neurology Department, Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Barcelona, Spain; Biomedical Research Institute (IIB-Sant Pau), Barcelona, Spain; Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red-Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas (CIBERNED), Spain; European Huntington's Disease Network (EHDN), Spain
| | - Jesús Perez-Perez
- Movement Disorders Unit, Neurology Department, Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Barcelona, Spain; Biomedical Research Institute (IIB-Sant Pau), Barcelona, Spain; Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red-Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas (CIBERNED), Spain; Autonomous University of Barcelona, Department of Medicine, Spain; European Huntington's Disease Network (EHDN), Spain
| | - Javier Pagonabarraga
- Movement Disorders Unit, Neurology Department, Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Barcelona, Spain; Biomedical Research Institute (IIB-Sant Pau), Barcelona, Spain; Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red-Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas (CIBERNED), Spain; Autonomous University of Barcelona, Department of Medicine, Spain; European Huntington's Disease Network (EHDN), Spain
| | - Beatriz Gomez-Anson
- Neuroradiology, Radiology Department, Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Jaime Kulisevsky
- Movement Disorders Unit, Neurology Department, Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Barcelona, Spain; Biomedical Research Institute (IIB-Sant Pau), Barcelona, Spain; Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red-Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas (CIBERNED), Spain; Autonomous University of Barcelona, Department of Medicine, Spain; European Huntington's Disease Network (EHDN), Spain.
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Langbehn DR, Hersch S. Clinical Outcomes and Selection Criteria for Prodromal Huntington's Disease Trials. Mov Disord 2020; 35:2193-2200. [PMID: 32686867 PMCID: PMC7818458 DOI: 10.1002/mds.28222] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/03/2020] [Revised: 06/04/2020] [Accepted: 06/30/2020] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Huntington's disease (HD) develops in individuals with extended cytosine‐adenine‐guanine (CAG) repeats within the huntingtin (HTT) gene, causing neurodegeneration and progressive motor and cognitive symptoms. The inclusion of mutant HTT carriers in whom overt symptoms are not yet fully manifest in therapeutic trials would enable the development of treatments that delay or halt the accumulation of significant disability. Objectives The present analyses assess whether screening prediagnosis (preHD) individuals based on a normalized prognostic index (PIN) score would enable the selection of prodromal preHD subjects in whom longitudinal changes in established outcome measures might provide robust signals. It also compares the relative statistical effect size of longitudinal change for these measures. Methods Individual participant data from 2 studies were used to develop mixed effect linear models to assess longitudinal changes in clinical metrics for participants with preHD and PIN‐stratified subcohorts. Relative effect sizes were calculated in 5 preHD studies and internally normalized to evaluate the strength and consistency of each metric across cohorts. Results Longitudinal modeling data demonstrate the amplification of effect sizes when preHD subcohorts were selected by PIN score thresholds of >0.0 and >0.4. These models and relative effect sizes across 5 studies consistently indicate that the Unified Huntington's Disease Rating Scale total motor score exhibits the greatest change in preHD. Conclusions These analyses suggest that the employment of PIN scores to homogenize and stratify preHD cohorts could improve the efficiency of current outcome measures, the most robust of which is the total motor score. © 2020 The Authors. Movement Disorders published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society
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Affiliation(s)
- Douglas R Langbehn
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, Iowa City, Iowa, USA
| | - Steven Hersch
- Voyager Therapeutics, Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.,Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
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Scahill RI, Zeun P, Osborne-Crowley K, Johnson EB, Gregory S, Parker C, Lowe J, Nair A, O'Callaghan C, Langley C, Papoutsi M, McColgan P, Estevez-Fraga C, Fayer K, Wellington H, Rodrigues FB, Byrne LM, Heselgrave A, Hyare H, Sampaio C, Zetterberg H, Zhang H, Wild EJ, Rees G, Robbins TW, Sahakian BJ, Langbehn D, Tabrizi SJ. Biological and clinical characteristics of gene carriers far from predicted onset in the Huntington's disease Young Adult Study (HD-YAS): a cross-sectional analysis. Lancet Neurol 2020; 19:502-512. [PMID: 32470422 PMCID: PMC7254065 DOI: 10.1016/s1474-4422(20)30143-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 99] [Impact Index Per Article: 24.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/07/2020] [Revised: 04/05/2020] [Accepted: 04/09/2020] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Disease-modifying treatments are in development for Huntington's disease; crucial to their success is to identify a timepoint in a patient's life when there is a measurable biomarker of early neurodegeneration while clinical function is still intact. We aimed to identify this timepoint in a novel cohort of young adult premanifest Huntington's disease gene carriers (preHD) far from predicted clinical symptom onset. METHODS We did the Huntington's disease Young Adult Study (HD-YAS) in the UK. We recruited young adults with preHD and controls matched for age, education, and sex to ensure each group had at least 60 participants with imaging data, accounting for scan fails. Controls either had a family history of Huntington's disease but a negative genetic test, or no known family history of Huntington's disease. All participants underwent detailed neuropsychiatric and cognitive assessments, including tests from the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery and a battery assessing emotion, motivation, impulsivity and social cognition (EMOTICOM). Imaging (done for all participants without contraindications) included volumetric MRI, diffusion imaging, and multiparametric mapping. Biofluid markers of neuronal health were examined using blood and CSF collection. We did a cross-sectional analysis using general least-squares linear models to assess group differences and associations with age and CAG length, relating to predicted years to clinical onset. Results were corrected for multiple comparisons using the false discovery rate (FDR), with FDR <0·05 deemed a significant result. FINDINGS Data were obtained between Aug 2, 2017, and April 25, 2019. We recruited 64 young adults with preHD and 67 controls. Mean ages of participants were 29·0 years (SD 5·6) and 29·1 years (5·7) in the preHD and control groups, respectively. We noted no significant evidence of cognitive or psychiatric impairment in preHD participants 23·6 years (SD 5·8) from predicted onset (FDR 0·22-0·87 for cognitive measures, 0·31-0·91 for neuropsychiatric measures). The preHD cohort had slightly smaller putamen volumes (FDR=0·03), but this did not appear to be closely related to predicted years to onset (FDR=0·54). There were no group differences in other brain imaging measures (FDR >0·16). CSF neurofilament light protein (NfL), plasma NfL, and CSF YKL-40 were elevated in this far-from-onset preHD cohort compared with controls (FDR<0·0001, =0·01, and =0·03, respectively). CSF NfL elevations were more likely in individuals closer to expected clinical onset (FDR <0·0001). INTERPRETATION We report normal brain function yet a rise in sensitive measures of neurodegeneration in a preHD cohort approximately 24 years from predicted clinical onset. CSF NfL appears to be a more sensitive measure than plasma NfL to monitor disease progression. This preHD cohort is one of the earliest yet studied, and our findings could be used to inform decisions about when to initiate a potential future intervention to delay or prevent further neurodegeneration while function is intact. FUNDING Wellcome Trust, CHDI Foundation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rachael I Scahill
- Huntington's Disease Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative disease, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, UK
| | - Paul Zeun
- Huntington's Disease Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative disease, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, UK
| | - Katherine Osborne-Crowley
- Huntington's Disease Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative disease, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, UK; Division of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Eileanoir B Johnson
- Huntington's Disease Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative disease, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, UK
| | - Sarah Gregory
- Huntington's Disease Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative disease, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, UK
| | - Christopher Parker
- Department of Computer Science and Centre for Medical Image Computing, University College London, London, UK
| | - Jessica Lowe
- Huntington's Disease Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative disease, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, UK
| | - Akshay Nair
- Huntington's Disease Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative disease, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, UK; Max Planck University College London Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, London, UK
| | - Claire O'Callaghan
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK; Brain and Mind Centre, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Christelle Langley
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Marina Papoutsi
- Huntington's Disease Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative disease, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, UK
| | - Peter McColgan
- Huntington's Disease Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative disease, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, UK
| | - Carlos Estevez-Fraga
- Huntington's Disease Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative disease, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, UK
| | - Kate Fayer
- Huntington's Disease Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative disease, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, UK
| | - Henny Wellington
- Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, UK; Dementia Research Institute at University College London, London, UK
| | - Filipe B Rodrigues
- Huntington's Disease Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative disease, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, UK
| | - Lauren M Byrne
- Huntington's Disease Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative disease, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, UK
| | - Amanda Heselgrave
- Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, UK; Dementia Research Institute at University College London, London, UK
| | - Harpreet Hyare
- Department of Brain Repair and Rehabilitation, University College London Institute of Neurology, London, UK
| | - Cristina Sampaio
- CHDI Foundation, Princeton, NJ, USA; Instituto de Medicina Molecular, Faculdade de Medicina de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal
| | - Henrik Zetterberg
- Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, UK; Dementia Research Institute at University College London, London, UK; Clinical Neurochemistry Laboratory, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Mölndal, Sweden; Department of Psychiatry and Neurochemistry, Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, Sahlgrenska Academy at University of Gothenburg, Mölndal, Sweden
| | - Hui Zhang
- Department of Computer Science and Centre for Medical Image Computing, University College London, London, UK
| | - Edward J Wild
- Huntington's Disease Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative disease, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, UK
| | - Geraint Rees
- University College London Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London, UK
| | - Trevor W Robbins
- Department of Psychology and Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Barbara J Sahakian
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Douglas Langbehn
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA
| | - Sarah J Tabrizi
- Huntington's Disease Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative disease, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, UK; Dementia Research Institute at University College London, London, UK.
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