title: Huntington's Disease - A Brief Historical Perspective.
abstract: Although the disease today known as Huntington's was described as early as the mid-19th century, knowledgeable physicians despaired of finding successful therapies and affected families largely kept it hidden. Starting in the late 1960 s, the confluence of grass-roots advocacy by HD family members, advances in Parkinson's treatment, and the development of molecular genetics and neuroscience helped turn HD into a focus of growing biomedical research. While therapies lag behind laboratory discoveries, disease altering interventions are now moving closer to the clinic. The Journal of Huntington's Disease is a welcome new resource in this effort.
authors: Center for the Study of Women, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA. arwexler@ucla.edu
authors: Alice
authors: A
authors: Wexler
mesh_terms: D035843:Biomedical Research; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D006801:Humans; D006816:Huntington Disease / Q000266:history*; D012955:Societies, Medical
keywords: HD; Hereditary Disease Foundation; Huntington's; Huntington's Disease Society of America; Marjorie Guthrie; Milton Wexler; advocacy; history; lay association