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Review
. 2022 May 12;23(10):5411.
doi: 10.3390/ijms23105411.

A Glimpse of Molecular Biomarkers in Huntington's Disease

Silvia Martí-Martínez  1 , Luis M Valor  2
Affiliations
Review

A Glimpse of Molecular Biomarkers in Huntington's Disease

Silvia Martí-Martínez et al. Int J Mol Sci. .

Abstract

Huntington's disease (HD) is a devastating neurodegenerative disorder that is caused by an abnormal expansion of CAG repeats in the Huntingtin (HTT) gene. Although the main symptomatology is explained by alterations at the level of the central nervous system, predominantly affecting the basal ganglia, a peripheral component of the disease is being increasingly acknowledged. Therefore, the manifestation of the disease is complex and variable among CAG expansion carriers, introducing uncertainty in the appearance of specific signs, age of onset and severity of disease. The monogenic nature of the disorder allows a precise diagnosis, but the use of biomarkers with prognostic value is still needed to achieve clinical management of the patients in an individual manner. In addition, we need tools to evaluate the patient's response to potential therapeutic approaches. In this review, we provide a succinct summary of the most interesting molecular biomarkers that have been assessed in patients, mostly obtained from body fluids such as cerebrospinal fluid, peripheral blood and saliva.

Keywords: CSF; NF-L; PDE10A; cytokines; huntingtin; miRNA; oxidative; plasma; polyglutamine; saliva; somatic expansion; transcriptomics.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the interpretation of data, in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the review.

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