UI

In addition to more research to understand how the autonomic dysfunction seen in HD might be targeted for disease modification, the UI team also hopes to perform a clinical trial of beta-blockers as a potential disease modifier for HD.

Using clinical information from a large, observational database of over 21,000 people with HD, the UI team found that the use of beta-blocker drugs -- commonly used to treat heart and blood pressure issues -- was associated with both a significantly later onset of HD symptoms for people in the pre-symptomatic stages, and a slower rate of symptom worsening for those with symptoms.

"Given that there are no disease-modifying agents for HD, the possibility that beta-blockers, which are cheap and have a known safety profile, may provide benefit to patients at various stages of the disease is very exciting," says Jordan Schultz, PharmD, UI assistant professor of psychiatry, and lead author of the new study.

To investigate the potential effect of beta-blocker use, the UI researcher used data from the world's largest observational study for Huntington's disease families known as Enroll-HD.

Earlier this year, the results of another UI phase 2 clinical trial in patients with glioblastoma, a deadly form of brain cancer, were published.