Review
Huntington’s Disease Appears to Increase Diabetes Mellitus Risk
Lulu Zhao1,*, Xiaofei Zhang1, Xin Miao1, Haiyan Xing1, Shengnan Wang1, Gang Li1,*,✉
1Department of Pharmacology, College of Pharmacy, Inner Mongolian Medical University, Jinshan Development Zone, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, 010110, China.
* These authors contributed equally. ✉ Correspondence：Gang, Li, Department of Pharmacology, College of Pharmacy, Inner Mongolian Medical University, Jinshan Development Zone, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, 010110, China. Email: [email protected]. Tel: 86-471 6653 141. Received: May 27, 2019; Accepted: September 04, 2019; Published online: January 1, 2020. Cite this paper: Zhao, L. L., Zhang, X. F., Miao, X., Xing, H. Y., Wang, S. N., Li, G. (2020) Huntington’s Disease Appears to Increase Diabetes Mellitus Risk. Global Journal of Neuroscience, 1(1):2-9. https://naturescholars.com/gjn.010102. https://doi.org/10.46633/gjn.010102. Copyright © 2020 by Scholars Publishing, LLC.
Abstract
Huntington’s disease (HD) is an autosomal-dominant neurodegenerative disorder and the onset of HD is mainly in middle and old age. The HD gene is known to be a disease-causing gene. There are highly polymorphic CAG repeated in the first exon, and the amino acid encoded by the CAG sequence is glutamine. This led to the encoding of a macromolecular protein containing the polyglutamine sequence (PolyQ) – Huntingtin. Abnormal amplification of CAG produces a mutated Huntingtin protein (MHTT). In addition to causing motor, cognitive and mental disorders, the disease may also increase the risk of diabetes. The aggregates produced by the MHTT, in addition to the aggregation of neurons, can also accumulate in endocrine cells such as islet cells, thereby producing cytotoxicity. This article attempts to briefly describe the risk that HD may increase diabetes.
Key words: Huntington’s disease（HD); Diabetes Mellitus; Insulin secretion; Pancreatic β cells; Insulin resistance.