New Delhi, December 3 (IANS). A research has revealed that a medicine used in heart disease can help in preventing Huntington’s disease. This disease damages brain cells.
Common symptoms of Huntington’s include problems like jerk movements and convulsions. Apart from this, there may be uncontrolled movements, difficulty in swallowing, unclear language and trouble in walking.
Researchers at the University of Iowa in the US found that the use of beta-blocker drugs, commonly used to treat heart and blood pressure problems, may delay the onset of Huntington’s symptoms in people with pre-symptoms.
In people who were found to have this disease, beta blockers also slowed down the rate of worsening of symptoms.
“Given the fact that there are no disease-modifying agents for Huntington’s disease, beta-blockers are a better option,” said lead author Jordan Schultz, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the university. It can provide benefits to the patient in different stages of the disease.
Previous research has shown that patients suffering from Huntington’s disease have a stronger ‘fight or flight’ reflex even when at rest.
The team targeted beta blockers, which block the action of a neurotransmitter called norepinephrine and a hormone.
For the study published in JAMA Neurology, the team focused on two different groups of Huntington’s patients. One group contained disease-causing genetic mutations but who had not yet shown significant clinical symptoms, and the other group contained patients who had been clinically diagnosed, known as motor-manifest patients (MM group ) said.
Within each group, the team identified patients who had been taking a beta-blocker for at least a year.
Next, the team matched 174 pre- and 149-mm beta-blocker users with an equal number of similar non-beta-blocker users.
The analysis showed that pre-beta blocker users had a significantly lower annual risk of receiving a clinical diagnosis of Huntington’s. This suggests that beta blocker use was associated with later disease course.
A significant reduction in the gradual worsening of motor, cognitive and functional symptoms was observed in patients taking beta blockers in the MM group.
–IANS
MKS/AS
