Category: Huntington's Disease
Objective: to compare the prevalence of diabetes mellitus (DM) in a self-reported series of local Huntington disease (HD) participants in the ENROLL-HD registry with the general Argentinean population
Background: Several epidemiological, pathological and experimental studies have contributed to support an association between HD and DM. Recently an association between DM and early age of onset of HD has been reported in premanifest participants from the ENROLL-HD platform. Experimental evidences showed a central role of the huntingtin protein (HTT) in these metabolic pathways. Moreover, hypoglycemic drugs such as insulin and exenatide-4 acting at the intracellular pathways showed to have neuroprotective effects in experimental models of HD through modulation of specific kinases, like AKT1, SGK1, and PP2B. In Argentina, the prevalence of DM is 6.3 (4.5–9.3), with a higher prevalence in groups with lower incomes and social vulnerability. (Diabetes Atlas Ninth edition 2019/ Ministerio de Salud de la Nación. In: http://www.msal.gov.ar/images/stories/ publicaciones/pdf/11.09.2014-tercer-encuentro-nacional-factores-riesgo.pdf; accessed September 2019).
Method: We conducted an observational retrospective study by analyzing the local database of individuals included in ENROLL –HD registry from 2015 to 2020. We examined the information regarding self-reported comorbidities as well as concomitant medications to identify possible DM. These results were compared with data from the general Argentinean population. Statistical analysis was performed.
Results: The cohort was composed of a total of 83 HD patients with a mean age of 44.7 years old. The distribution by gender was 49 female (59%) and 34 male (40.96%). DM was identified in only one participant 1/83 (1.2%).
Conclusion: These results suggest a low prevalence of DM in our HD population with respect to the general Argentinean population. Although, early human studies reported an association between HD and DM, most recent publications showed a very low prevalence in genetically diagnosed HD patients in agreement with our results. Establishing the prevalence of DM in HD is relevant considering the potential role that hypoglycemic drugs would have as a new therapeutic strategy, considering that both diseases share common pathways that affect each other progress.
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
N. Gonzalez Rojas, M. Cesarini, J. Etcheverry, E. Gatto. Diabetes Mellitus in Huntington’s disease. The Argentinean perspective [abstract]. Mov Disord. 2021; 36 (suppl 1). https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/diabetes-mellitus-in-huntingtons-disease-the-argentinean-perspective/. Accessed June 15, 2025.« Back to MDS Virtual Congress 2021
MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/diabetes-mellitus-in-huntingtons-disease-the-argentinean-perspective/