Progress in the Quest to Prevent Huntington Disease

Huntington disease (HD) is an autosomal dominant neurodegenerative disease that results from a trinucleotide-repeat expansion in the huntingtin (HTT) gene. Although the disease typically first manifests clinically in the third to fifth decades of life, there is increasing evidence that the degenerative process begins many years, if not decades, earlier. This observation has raised the tantalizing possibility that it might be possible to intervene early in people at genetic risk for HD, and thereby to delay or prevent the appearance of clinically overt disease.

Now, investigators have reported the results of PRECREST, a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of 15 g creatine administered twice daily for 6 months, followed by 12 mo…