Despite the best efforts of modern medicine, Huntington’s disease is a condition that still comes with a tragic prognosis. Primarily an inherited disease, its main symptoms concern degeneration of the brain, leading to issues with motor control, mood disturbance, with continued degradation eventually proving fatal.

Researchers have recently made progress in finding a potential treatment for the disease. A new study has indicated that an innovative genetic therapy could hold promise for slowing the progression of the disease, greatly improving patient outcomes.

Treatment

Huntington’s disease stems from a mutation in the huntingtin gene, which is responsible for coding for the huntingtin protein. This gene contains a repeated sequence referred to as a trinucleotide repeat, where the same three DNA bases repeat multiple times. The repeat count varies between individuals, and can change from generation to generation due to genetic mutation. If the number of repeats becomes too long, the gene no longer codes for huntingtin protein, and produces mutant huntingtin protein instead. The mutated protein eventually leads to neural degeneration. This genetic basis is key to the heritability of Huntington’s disease. If one parent carries a faulty gene, their children have a fifty percent chance of inheriting it and eventually developing the disease themselves. Over generations, the number of repeats can increase and lead to symptoms appearing at an earlier age.
Excessive repeats in a critical gene are the root cause of Huntington’s disease. Credit: NIST, public domain
The new treatment relies on advanced genetic techniques to slow the disease in its tracks. It involves the use of a custom designed virus, which is inserted into the brain itself in specific key areas. It’s a delicate surgical process that takes anywhere from 12 to 18 hours, using real-time scanning to ensure the viral payload is placed exactly where it needs to go. The virus carries a DNA sequence and delivers it to brain cells, which begin processing the DNA to produce small fragments of genetic material called microRNA. These fragments intercept the messenger RNA that is produced from the body’s own DNA instructions, which is responsible for producing the mutant huntingtin protein which causes the degenerative disease. In this way, mutant huntingtin levels are reduced, drastically slowing the progression of the disease.

The effects of the treatment are potentially game changing, with progression of the disease slowed by 75% in study patients. Results indicate that with effective treatment, the decline expected over one year would instead take a full four years. In more qualitative areas, some patients in the trial have managed to maintain the ability to walk at a point when they would typically be expected to require wheel chairs. In typical Huntington’s cases, the onset occurs between 30 to 50 years old, with a life expectancy of just 15 to 20 years after diagnosis. The hope is that by delaying the progression of the disease, affected patients could have a greater quality of life for much longer, without suffering the worst impacts of the condition.
A microscopic image of a neuron damaged by mutated Huntingtin (mHtt) protein inclusion, visible via orange stain. Credit: Dr Steven Finkbeiner, CC BY-SA 3.0
The initial trial involved just twenty-nine patients, but results were promising. Data indicated consistent benefit to patients three years after the initial surgery. Crucially, the treatment isn’t just slowing symptoms, but there is also evidence it helped to preserve brain tissue. Markers of neuronal death in spinal fluid, which would typically increase as Huntington’s disease progresses, were actually lower than before treatment in study patients.

The therapy isn’t without complications. Beyond the complicated and highly invasive brain surgery required to get the virus where it needs to go, some patients developed inflammation from the virus causing some side effects like headaches and confusion. There’s also the expense — advanced gene therapies don’t come cheap. However, on the positive side, it’s believed the treatment could potentially be a one-off matter, as the brain cells that produce the critical microRNA fragments are not replaced regularly like other more disposable cells in the body. While it’s a new and radical treatment, pharmaceutical company UniQure has plans to bring it to market as soon as late 2026 in the US, with the European market to follow.

It’s not every day that scientists discover a new viable cure for a disease that has long proven fatal. However, through genetic techniques and a strong understanding of the causative factors of the disease, it appears scientists have made progress in tackling the spectre that is Huntington’s disease. For the many thousands of patients grappling with the disease, and the many descendents who struggle with potentially having inherited the condition, news of a potential treatment is a very good thing indeed.

Featured image: “Huntington” by Frank Gaillard.

hackaday.com/2025/11/11/gene-t…

Just before a decisive meeting in Brussels, digital rights expert and former Member of the European Parliament Dr. Patrick Breyer is sounding the alarm. Using a “deceptive sleight of hand,” a mandatory and expanded Chat Control is being pushed through the back door, in a form even more intrusive than the originally rejected plan. The legislative package could be greenlit tomorrow in a closed-door EU working group session.

“This is a political deception of the highest order,” warns Breyer. “Following loud public protests, several member states including Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, and Austria said ‘No’ to indiscriminate Chat Control. Now it’s coming back through the back door – disguised, more dangerous, and more comprehensive than ever. The public is being played for fools.”

According to Breyer, the new compromise proposal is a Trojan horse containing three poison pills for digital freedom:

1. MANDATORY CHAT CONTROL – MASKED AS “RISK MITIGATION”
Officially, explicit scanning obligations have been dropped. But a loophole in Article 4 of the new draft obliges providers of e-mail, chat and messenger services like WhatsApp to take “all appropriate risk mitigation measures.” This means they can still be forced to scan all private messages – including on end-to-end encrypted services.
“The loophole renders the much-praised removal of detection orders worthless and negates their supposed voluntary nature,” says Breyer. “Even client-side scanning (CSS) on our smartphones could soon become mandatory – the end of secure encryption.”

2. TOTAL SURVEILLANCE OF TEXT CHATS: A “DIGITAL WITCH HUNT”
The supposedly voluntary “Chat Control 2.0” goes far beyond the previously discussed scanning of photos, videos, and links. Now, algorithms and AI can be used to mass-scan the private chat texts and metadata of all citizens for suspicious keywords and signals.
“No AI can reliably distinguish between a flirt, sarcasm, and criminal ‘grooming’,” explains Breyer. “Imagine your phone scanning every conversation with your partner, your daughter, your therapist and leaking it just because the word ‘love’ or ‘meet’ appears somewhere. This is not child protection – this is a digital witch hunt. The result will be a flood of false positives, placing innocent citizens under general suspicion and exposing masses of private, even intimate, chats and photos to strangers.” Under the current voluntary “Chat Control 1.0” scanning scheme, German federal police (BKA) already warn that around 50% of all reports are criminally irrelevant, equating to tens of thousands of leaked chats per year.

3. DIGITAL HOUSE ARREST FOR TEENS & THE END OF ANONYMOUS COMMUNICATION
In the shadow of the Chat Control debate, two other disastrous measures are being pushed through:

• The End of Anonymous Communication: To reliably identify minors as required by the text, every citizen would have to present their ID or have their face scanned to open an email or messenger account. “This is the de facto end of anonymous communication online – a disaster for whistleblowers, journalists, political activists, and people seeking help who rely on the protection of anonymity,” warns Breyer.
• “Digital House Arrest”: Teens under 16 face a blanket ban from WhatsApp, Instagram, online games, and countless other apps with chat functions. “Digital isolation instead of education, protection by exclusion instead of empowerment – this is paternalistic, out of touch with reality, and pedagogical nonsense.”

URGENT APPEAL: GOVERNMENTS MUST NOW USE THEIR VETO!
Several EU governments—including those of Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Czechia, Luxembourg, Finland, Austria, and Estonia—have previously voiced strong opposition to indiscriminate mass scanning.
“Now, these governments must show some backbone!” demands Breyer. “Block this sham compromise in the Council and demand immediate corrections to save the fundamental rights of all citizens. The EU Parliament has already shown, across party lines, how child protection and digital freedom can be achieved together.”

Breyer demands the following immediate corrections before any government should agree:

1. No mandatory chat control through the back door: Clarify that scans cannot be enforced as “risk mitigation.”
2. No AI chat police: Restrict scanning to known child sexual abuse material (CSAM).
3. No mass surveillance: Only allow targeted surveillance of suspects based on a court order.
4. Preserve the right to anonymity: The mandatory age verification requirement must be scrapped entirely.

“They are selling us security but delivering a total surveillance machine,” Breyer concludes. “They promise child protection but punish our children and criminalize privacy. This is not a compromise – this is a fraud against the citizen. And no democratic government should make itself an accomplice.”

About Dr. Patrick Breyer:
Dr. Patrick Breyer is a jurist, digital rights expert, and a former Member of the European Parliament (Pirate Party) until 2024. As a co-negotiator of the Parliament’s position on the Chat Control regulation (CSAR), he is a leading European critic of indiscriminate mass surveillance.

patrick-breyer.de/en/chat-cont…