UCL HUNTINGTON’S DISEASE RESEARCH

INFORMATION FOR PATIENTS, RELATIVES AND CARERS

Sarah Tabrizi BSc (Hons) MBChB (Hons) FRCP PhD

Professor of Clinical Neurology

This site aims to bring together information about our research projects in Huntington’s disease (HD) for patients, carriers of the HD gene, carers, families, friends, scientists and health professionals.

Clinical research in Huntington’s disease is entering a new era. We are already running clinical trials into treatments that may slow down progression of the disease. There are many new treatments that have been shown to be effective in animal models of HD and are waiting to be tested in humans.

Through the Huntington’s Disease Multidisciplinary Clinic of the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, we are already running a number of studies to determine the best measures of disease progression and expect to be in the front line when human treatment trials begin in earnest.

To navigate the site, choose one of the links on the left.

Latest Huntington’s disease research news, provided by HDbuzz

Latest news

2nd March, 2012 - Prof Tabrizi addresses global therapeutics conference

Prof Sarah Tabrizi has given a preliminary report of the results of the TRACK-HD study at the international Huntington’s Disease Therapeutics Conference in Palm Springs, California.

The Conference is a gathering of many of the world’s top Huntington’s disease researchers. Prof Tabrizi announced the successful completion of the TRACK-HD study, which has significantly improved our understanding of how Huntington’s disease progresses and has provided a crucial ‘toolkit’ for running clinical trials in HD.

Prof Tabrizi also unveiled the TrackOn-HD study, which will begin soon at UCL, and aims to detect the subtle brain changes that enable people with the HD mutation, but no symptoms, to continue functioning well. TRACK-HD revealed that their brains are surprisingly good at coping with the effects of the mutation for many years – in other words, there is a lot to save if we can develop effective treatments.

The Therapeutics Conference also heard about the progress on many fronts towards such treatments. Notably, several teams are now within months of beginning trials of gene silencing treatments in HD patients. We intend to be at the forefront of trials of these promising treatments in Europe.

You can read more about the conference, in easy-to-understand language, at HDBuzz.net.

17th January, 2012 - New study in the pipeline: ACT-HD

Dr James Cole, a Research Associate at UCL Institute of Neurology, is developing a new project called ACT-HD which aims to improve the design and recruitment of clinical trials for potential treatments of Huntington’s Disease.

He is inviting feedback from HD patients, carers, family members, clinicicans, researchers or any other interested members of the public. If you would like to know more there is a summary of the study here with some starter questions to get you thinking. There are also details of how to feedback your ideas to Dr Cole.

All thoughts, suggestions and questions are greatly appreciated.

5th December, 2011 - TRACK-HD ‘toolkit’ published in major scientific journal

We’re thrilled to announce that the results of the TRACK-HD study have just been published in the high-impact scientific journal The Lancet Neurology.

The article is entitled ‘Potential endpoints for clinical trials in premanifest and early Huntington’s disease in the TRACK-HD study: analysis of 24 month observational data‘.

TRACK-HD was a multi-site international study that aimed to establish what measurements were the best to use as ‘outcome measures’ for clinical trials in HD. It was funded by the CHDI Foundation and led by Prof Sarah Tabrizi at UCL.

The Lancet Neurology article – the third TRACK-HD publication in that journal in three – years proposes a ‘toolkit’ of outcome measurements, including optimised MRI brain scan measures and cognitive (thinking) tests that will help to make clinical trials more efficient and more effective.

Many drugs are in development for HD and a major problem has been a lack of ‘biomarkers’ to help us decide whether a drug works or not. TRACK-HD has successfully identified biomarkers that we hope will achieve that aim, bringing us closer to clinical trials and effective treatments for HD.

Though TRACK-HD has now completed, we’re in the process of setting up a follow-on study, TrackOn-HD, which aims to identify measurements sensitive enough to detect change reliably in people with the HD genetic mutation before they develop symptoms. Stay tuned for more news as TrackOn-HD nears launch.

Tabrizi et al, Lancet Neurology 2011

7th October, 2011 - Prof Tabrizi’s message to the HD World Congress: Yes We Can!

Prof Sarah Tabrizi, head of the UCL Huntington’s Disease Research Group, addressed the opening session of the 2011 World Congress on Huntington’s Disease in Melbourne, Australia.

In her lecture, Prof Tabrizi gave an overview of new approaches to treating HD that are being tested now in clinical trials, or are likely to reach trials in the next two years.

She also reported on the successful completion of the TRACK-HD study, which has succeeded in delivering a selection of measures that can be used to make sure that clinical trials in early HD are run as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Prof Tabrizi concluded with a rousing message of optimism for the global HD community: Yes We Can!

Several other members of the UCL Huntington’s disease research team, including Dr Rachael Scahill and Dr Ed Wild, addressed the Congress or presented their research findings in posters.

You can see reports and videos from the World Congress at HDBuzz.

5th October, 2011 - TRACK-HD completes successfully

On 29 September 2011, TRACK-HD saw its last participant.

Thank you to all our participants. Please check back soon for news of TrackOn-HD, a new study building on the success of TRACK-HD.