(GIST OF SCIENCE REPORTER) Huntington's Disease

(JANUARY-2026)

Huntington's disease (HD) has long been impossible to cure, but new research is finally giving fresh hope.

It is a rare hereditary disorder in which brain cells, or neurons, in certain areas of your brain start to break down.
The destruction of nerve cells happens in the basal ganglia, or the region of your brain that regulates your body’s movements.
It also affects the brain cortex (surface of your brain) that regulates your thinking, decision-making, and memory.
As the neurons degenerate, the disease can lead to emotional disturbances, loss of intellectual abilities, and uncontrolled movements.

A genetic mutation of the HTT gene causes HD. If one of your parents has HD, you have a 50% chance of also developing it.
The HTT gene makes a protein called huntingtin. This protein helps your nerve cells (neurons) function.
If you have HD, your DNA doesn’t have all the information needed to make the huntingtin protein.
As a result, these proteins grow in an abnormal shape and destroy (instead of help) your neurons.
Your neurons die because of this genetic mutation.

Adult-onset: This is the most common Symptoms usually start after age 30.
Early-onset (juvenile Huntington’s disease): This rare type affects children and teenagers. Symptoms appear before age 20.

Common symptoms include uncontrollable dance-like movements (chorea) and abnormal body postures, as well as problems with behavior, emotion, thinking, and personality.
Other symptoms may include tremor (unintentional back-and-forth movement in the person’s muscles) and unusual eye movements. The eye movements can happen early in the disease.
These symptoms get worse over time.
As HD progresses, you will need constant assistance and supervision because of the debilitating nature of the disease.
Treatment: There is no treatment that can stop or reverse HD, but health care providers can offer medications to help with certain symptoms.