May is Huntington's Disease Awareness Month in San Diego

The San Diego Chapter of the Huntington’s Disease Society of America (HDSA) announced today that May is Huntington’s Disease Awareness Month and volunteers throughout the county are working to raise awareness and stimulate donations to fund research and programs to care for those suffering from the disease. 

This is the seventh year that the month of May has been designated by the national HDSA. 

HD is a fatal genetic brain disorder that affects tens of thousands of Americans each year. It is often described as having Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Lou Gehrig’s diseases simultaneously. HD slowly diminishes the affected individual's ability to walk, think, talk and reason. Symptoms usually appear in an individual between 30 and 50 years of age and progress over a 10 to 25 year period. Cases of juvenile HD have been diagnosed in children as young as two years of age. Eventually, a person with HD becomes totally dependent upon others for his or her care.   

George Essig, president of the San Diego chapter of HDSA, said awareness has been building in San Diego because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers who work throughout the year to produce fundraising events including the Hope Walk each April, golf tournament in August, the Shoot to Cure HD basketball event on June 14 and the Celebration of Hope Gala in the fall. In addition, attention is being drawn to San Diego because of significant research underway for HD treatments at UCSD, Isis Pharmaceuticals, Auspex Pharmaceuticals and Vertex Pharmaceuticals.  

George Yohrling, Ph.D., director of medical and scientific affairs for HDSA in New York, who tracks research throughout the world, praised efforts in San Diego. 

“The cure/treatment could come in San Diego,” Yohrling said. “Isis has identified a development candidate using anti-sense technology to suppress the HD gene. Not only is it suppressing the gene in mice, but the animals recover some of their functions. UCSD has had similar results to silencing the mutant HD gene.”

UCSD and Isis are planning to initiate Phase I human clinical trials in 2015, the first major step in a five to ten-year process of securing regulatory approval for a new drug. 

Funds raised in San Diego also go to support work of the HDSA Center of Excellence at UCSD. Here, HD patients are treated by an expert team of specialists who provide comprehensive care and address the wide range of symptoms and challenges in treating HD and caring for families affected by this hereditary disease.