E. Ray Dorsey

Genetic modifiers of somatic expansion and clinical phenotypes in Huntington's disease reveal shared and tissue-specific effects

The paper identifies genetic modifiers of somatic CAG expansion and clinical phenotypes in Huntington's disease, revealing shared and tissue-specific effects on disease timing and pathogenic processes.

Huntington's disease onset is determined by length of uninterrupted CAG, not encoded polyglutamine, and is modified by DNA maintenance mechanisms

This study shows that the length of uninterrupted CAG repeats, not the encoded polyglutamine segment, determines Huntington's disease onset, and DNA maintenance genes modify this process.