Cancer drugs may thwart Huntington’s
By John Travis
Drugs developed to fight cancer could also be effective against Huntington’s disease and several related neurodegenerative conditions, according to a new study of flies.
These brain illnesses are known as polygutamine disorders because in each, a mutated gene translates into proteins with an overabundance of the amino acid glutamine (SN: 6/10/95, p. 360). Seeking to explain how different proteins cause these brain disorders, scientists have searched for molecules whose functions might be altered by glutamine-rich proteins.