Neural Transplants Stabilize Huntington's Disease

Grafting fetal neural transplants into the brains of patients with Huntington's disease may improve symptoms for several years but only delay the eventual decline, a new study has found.

Researchers from Henri Mondor Hospital (Creteil, France) reported the results of a six-year follow-up study in three of five patients with Huntington's disease who had shown improved motor and cognitive function and increased brain metabolic activity after fetal neural grafting in striatal areas and connected regions of the cerebral cortex. The two patients who initially failed to respond to the treatment continued to deteriorate, one of whom died in year four of follow-up.

The improved metabolism in frontal and prefrontal areas persisted over time in the other three patients, but the disease continued to spread to other parts of the brain. Clinical benefits in the motor domain persisted for four years, while functional and cognitive symptoms remained stable for even longer time periods. However, cognitive tests that were time-dependent deteriorated steadily, as did dystonia. Chorea remained stable throughout the study in two patients, but declined after four years in the third patient. The results were published online in the February 2006 edition of The Lancet Neurology.

Dr. Anne-Catherine Bauchoud-Levi and her group at Mondor suggested that neuroprotective treatment with neurotrophic factors--compounds that interfere with the molecular mechanisms of neuronal death--may be required along with neural grafts to improve outcomes in Huntington's disease. "Neuroprotection could stop the disease,” they concluded, "but only a graft can restore lost function.”



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