“More research is needed to clarify the clinical potential of this test. The researchers caution that the blood test is not yet helpful for individual patients. “We were surprised to find the blood tests could pick up signs even before any evidence of neurodegeneration could be seen in brain scans.” We’ve found that blood testing could help identify groups of people with very early neurodegeneration to help us run clinical trials of drugs to prevent symptoms,” said lead author Dr Ed Wild of the UCL Huntington’s Disease Centre, UCL Institute of Neurology. “Many people who develop Huntington’s report subtle signs such as with mood or coordination, in what’s called the prodromal stage before any changes can be detected by brain scans. In conducting this latest study, the team developed a tool kit to guide measurement of two early biomarkers of Huntington’s disease found in blood and brain fluid, for use in clinical trials that seek to find the first disease-altering treatment for Huntington’s.

The study, published in Science Translational Medicine, builds on recent evidence by the same research team, which found that a novel blood test can predict the onset and track the progression of the disease in people who carry the gene responsible for the incurable and fatal brain disorder.

A simple blood test can detect the earliest changes caused by Huntington’s disease, even before scans can pick up any signs in the brain, a new UCL-led study has found.

Blood in spinal fluid in brain