Using a computational approach to analyze large brain cell gene expression datasets, researchers at MIT and Sorbonne Université say they have found that Huntington’s disease may progress to advanced stages more because of a degradation of the cells’ health maintenance systems than because of increased damage from the disease pathology itself.
The analysis yielded information on specific gene networks governing molecular pathways that disease scientists may now be able to target to better sustain brain cell health amid the devastating neurodegenerative disorder, said co-senior author Myriam Heiman, PhD, associate professor in MIT’s department of brain and cognitive sciences and an investigator at The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory.
