DNA Repair Key to Huntington’s Disease

U.S. and Norwegian scientists have discovered a miscue of the body’s genetic repair system might result in the development of Huntington’s disease.

Researchers from the Mayor Clinic, the National Institutes of Health and the University of Oslo said until now no one knew how Huntington’s began, only that it is incurable.

We showed that when single-strand breaks in DNA caused by oxidative lesions were repaired, the Huntington’s gene continued to add extra replacement segments, said Mayo Clinic molecular biologist Cynthia McMurray, who led the study team. Over time, this expansion — especially in nerve cells — becomes toxic.

McMurray said the finding is significant because so little is known about Huntington’s. And it is the first confirmed connection between DNA repair and progression of the disease.

The research appears in the online issue of the journal Nature.