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Doctor's Corner By Martha Nance, M.D., Medical Director of the Huntington's Disease Clinic at HCMC
Annual HD Conference Overview -- in case you missed it!
The second half of the HD Conference was spent mostly in breakout sessions. Social worker Nina Ross led a session on preparing Advance Directives (for medical care), while attorney Lisa Pluto gave an excellent presentation on estate planning (all attendees rated her presentation as “excellent”!). Carol Ludowese, Hennepin County Medical Center Genetic Counselor, spoke about the genetic aspects of Huntington’s disease, including different types of genetic tests. The whole group heard from Jessica Hancock and Eileen Krueger, current and past MN HDSA Chapter social workers, about how to access community resources. The day ended with an opportunity for attendees to meet with other attendees of similar needs and life situations—caregivers, symptomatic individuals, at-risk but not yet symptomatic, and “tested positive” groups were available. It was an excellent day for all who attended. The planning committee hopes next year to have even more attendees, especially people who are new to the HD community! Next year’s conference will focus on “hope”, and it will probably be held on the first Saturday in October in the Twin Cities. So—save the date, and expect to hear more details in 2009! High school students study Huntington’s disease I had the great pleasure of attending the International Science and Engineering Fair in Atlanta, GA in May 2008. This is the grandfather of science fairs, where you go if you win your local high school science fair and your state science fair. There were 1500 students at the fair from 50 states and many foreign countries presenting their research on everything from nanotechnology to global warming to . . . Huntington’s disease! Yes, Huntington’s disease! There were two presentations on the effects of epigallocatechin-gallate in laboratory models of HD. (In case you have difficulty pronouncing that word, you can call it EGCG. Or you could call it “green tea” as this is what researchers believe is the "active ingredient” in green tea. In the first project, a team of two students from Georgia administered EGCG and a number of other antioxidant compounds to cultures of nematodes (roundworms) that had been genetically engineered to carry an abnormal HD gene. These worms have been shown by other researchers to have abnormal neurological function. (How do you measure neurological function in a roundworm, you ask? You bop it on the nose. Normal roundworms recoil vigorously, and sick ones do not recoil as well. And the dead ones don’t move at all, I was told …) The worms bathed in fluid that contained EGCG had higher scores on the neurological test than the worms that were given the other compounds. The young researchers hope to extend their work this summer by trying different doses of EGCG, or perhaps moving to other types of HD animals. In the second project, a young man from Michigan used a novel method to measure the level of oxidative stress in cells cultured in the laboratory after being removed from an HD mouse (interestingly, he used stem cells taken from the bone of the mouse, rather than brain cells). He compared normal cells to the HD cells to HD cells bathed in EGCG, and found that the cells bathed in EGCG had a more normal reading on the test for oxidative stress. He concluded that EGCG protected the cells against the oxidative stress that is felt to cause cell damage and death in HD. The scientist in me cautions that both research groups were a little generous in their interpretation of their results, but I am happy to report all three students felt that they were well on their way to finding a cure for HD! Let us all have a green tea toast to youth, creativity, dedication, and energy! Way to go, kids! Martha A. Nance MD
Special Note: We would like to acknowledge and thank the HCMC Service League for providing grant funds to help maintain these web pages.
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HDSA Center of Excellence at Hennepin County Medical
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