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The sleep and circadian problems of Huntington's disease: when, why and their importance.

Accepted version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

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Authors

Fazal, SV 
Lazar, AS 
Barker, RA 

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Mounting evidence supports the existence of an important feedforward cycle between sleep and neurodegeneration, wherein neurodegenerative diseases cause sleep and circadian abnormalities, which in turn exacerbate and accelerate neurodegeneration. If so, sleep therapies bear important potential to slow progression in these diseases. FINDINGS: This cycle is challenging to study, as its bidirectional nature renders cause difficult to disentangle from effect. Likewise, well-controlled intervention studies are often impractical in the setting of established neurodegenerative disease. It is this that makes understanding sleep and circadian abnormalities in Huntington's disease (HD) important: as a monogenic fully penetrant neurodegenerative condition presenting in midlife, it provides a rare opportunity to study sleep and circadian abnormalities longitudinally, prior to and throughout disease manifestation, and in the absence of confounds rendered by age and comorbidities. It also provides potential to trial sleep therapies at a preclinical or early disease stage. Moreover, its monogenic nature facilitates the development of transgenic animal models through which to run parallel pre-clinical studies. HD, therefore, provides a key model condition through which to gain new insights into the sleep-neurodegeneration interface. CONCLUSIONS: Here, we begin by summarising contemporary knowledge of sleep abnormalities in HD, and consider how well these parallel those of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's as more common neurodegenerative conditions. We then discuss what is currently known of the sleep-neurodegeneration cyclical relationship in HD. We conclude by outlining key directions of current and future investigation by which to advance the sleep-neurodegeneration field via studies in HD.

Description

Keywords

Circadian rhythm, Dementia, Huntington’s disease, Neurodegeneration, Sleep, Animals, Circadian Rhythm, Disease Models, Animal, Huntington Disease, Neurodegenerative Diseases, Sleep

Journal Title

J Neurol

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0340-5354
1432-1459

Volume Title

268

Publisher

Springer Science and Business Media LLC

Rights

All rights reserved
Sponsorship
Medical Research Council (MC_PC_12009)
Medical Research Council (MC_PC_17230)
Wellcome Trust (203151/Z/16/Z)
The funding statement is missing by mistake. This will be corrected and it will include funding from: WT/MRC, NIHR BRC and ABN/Guarantors of Brain