iMarkHD: In Vivo Longitudinal Imaging of HD Pathology
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Longitudinal Adaptive Study of Molecular Pathology and Neuronal Networks in Huntington’s Disease Gene Expansion Carriers (HDGECs) and Healthy Controls using Positron Emission Tomography and Multi-modal Magnetic Resonance Imaging
IRAS ID
242859
Contact name
Steve Williams
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
King's College London
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
Duration of Study in the UK
5 years, 5 months, 30 days
Research summary
Huntington’s disease (HD) is an incurable hereditary disease. It is inherited by around 50% of the children of a carrier of the mutation. Since the mutation causing the disease is known, it is possible to identify asymptomatic carriers who will develop the disease. We can also estimate the timeframe by which an unaffected mutation carrier will develop the first symptoms of the disease. This allows to study these people in the search of a biomarker. A biomarker is an element that reveals variations in normal function, may flag that something is going wrong and also change proportionately with the natural course of the disease. It is important to identify biomarkers for HD because it will be easier to devise studies with potential treatments for this disease.
In previous studies, it has been demonstrated that neuroimaging techniques have potential for identifying these biomarkers. However, no study has identified it yet.
We will ask participants, who will be asymptomatic and symptomatic carriers of the HD mutation, and healthy controls, to undertake two types of brain scan: one Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and four Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scans with different tracers. They will repeat these scans three times: at baseline, after one year, and after two years. If the preliminary analysis of the study reveals satisfying results, this will be extended for one additional year, with the same procedures.REC name
London - Bromley Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/LO/0339
Date of REC Opinion
9 May 2019
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion