Huntington’s Disease

Huntington’s disease is an inherited neurological condition. It is a degenerative brain disease with the symptoms gradually worsening over time.

HD is caused by a defective gene and usually strikes between the ages of 30 and 45 although it may appear earlier or later. Every child of an HD parent has a 50 per cent risk of inheriting this genetic disease. There is a gradual physical, emotional and cognitive deterioration over 10 to 25 years, leading to total incapacitation and eventual death.

There is presently no known cure or effective treatment. Symptoms include involuntary jerking movements of the limbs, face and trunk; increasing difficulty with communication, swallowing and walking; problems with planning, organisation and initiating, as well as personality change.

LCT’s NeurotrophinCell treatment implants new choroid plexus cells (the cells that produce cerebral spinal fluid and a number of factors important for the health and survival of the brain) into the brain. The cells produce hormones (neurotrophins) to help protect and repair the brain from damage. Early results of pre-clinical studies have shown the ability of the technology to protect brain tissue that would otherwise die, potentially forestalling or even preventing the debilitating consequences of brain disease.

• Every person who inherits the HD gene will eventually develop the disease
• Approximately 30,000 Americans have HD and over 200,000 more are at risk of inheriting it from a parent
• Current estimates suggest 1 in every 10,000 people in the US have HD
• In Australia, 7 to 10 individuals per 100,000 people will be affected