Huntington disease prevention trial shows creatine safe

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-02/mgh-hdp020514.php

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 7-Feb-2014
Contact: Mike Morrison
Massachusetts General Hospital
Huntington disease prevention trial shows creatine safe, suggests slowing of progression
Novel study design allows participation of at-risk individuals who do not want to know their genetic status

The first clinical trial of a drug intended to delay the onset of symptoms of Huntington disease (HD) reveals that high-dose treatment with the nutritional supplement creatine was safe and well tolerated by most study participants. In addition, neuroimaging showed a treatment-associated slowing of regional brain atrophy, evidence that creatine might slow the progression of presymptomatic HD. The Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) study also utilized a novel design that allowed participants – all of whom were at genetic risk for the neurodegenerative disorder – to enroll without having to learn whether or not they carried the mutation that causes HD.

"More than 90 percent of those in the United States who know they are at risk for HD because of their family history have abstained from genetic testing, often because they fear discrimination or don't want to face the stress and anxiety of knowing they are destined to develop such a devastating disease," says H. Diana Rosas, MD, of the MassGeneral Institute for Neurodegenerative Disease (MGH-MIND), lead and corresponding author of the paper that will appear in the March 11 issue of Neurology and has been released online. "Many of these individuals would still like to help find treatments, and this trial design allows them to participate while respecting their autonomy, their right not to know their personal genetic information."

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