Quantitative assessment of eye movements in Huntington's disease
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Quantitative assessment of eye movements in Huntington's disease: sensitivity to disease progression and functional impact.
IRAS ID
127626
Contact name
Anne Rosser
Contact email
Research summary
Summary of Results
Huntington’s disease (HD) is an inherited neurodegenerative disorder characterised by abnormal movements. Previous studies have demonstrated that people with HD display abnormal movements of the eyes when compared to controls. However, there is no agreed way for regularly testing different types of eye movement in people with HD. The aim off this study was to test an existing set of eye movement tests in people with HD to see which is the most suitable to a) measure routinely in people with HD and b) may act as an early detector of disease symptoms that may allow sensitive measurement of disease progression. Something that can be measured but isn’t a direct symptom of a disorder but reflects the stage or severity of a disease or disorder and is sensitive to change is known as a biomarker. Biomarkers in HD can be used to test how well new treatments work, where other ways of assessing disease progression would take a long time to measure.
In this exploratory pilot study we tested the eye movements in 20 people with HD and found differences in eye movements, when compared to control that confirmed earlier reported findings. We also found other changes in eye movements that have not been reported before and may occur before the onset of other disease symptoms. Therefore, this particular eye movement ahs the potential to act as a biomarker.
To better understand the changes in eye movements in people with HD, we need to conduct some further tests to see if our observed differences in eye movements can be repeated and if they change at a similar rate to other markers of disease progression. If the rate of change of eye movements are similar to other symptom progression, we may be able to sue eye movements as a biomarker to be used in the testing of new treatments.
REC name
Wales REC 5
REC reference
13/WA/0162
Date of REC Opinion
20 Jun 2013
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion