EyeHD
Research type
Research Study
Full title
EyeHD: Assessing Huntington’s Disease patients for ophthalmological abnormalities as a measure of disease progression.
IRAS ID
313561
Contact name
Roger Barker
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust & University of Cambridge
Duration of Study in the UK
10 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Huntington’s disease (HD) is a progressive, genetic, neurodegenerative disorder that affects approximately 5,700 people in the UK, with 5 times as many at risk of having inherited the gene. Clinical features typically emerge at the height of normal adult working life, namely between 30-50 years old, and include motor dysfunction, neuropsychiatric disturbances and cognitive difficulties. The disease runs a progressive course over about 20 years to death. Currently the main clinical focus remains on the motor and cognitive symptoms, but HD is a multi-system condition that affects multiple organs including the retina. Furthermore, we have yet to identify biomarkers that are easily attainable from the patients and are able to correlate with disease severity in the prodromal or pre manifest years. There is an increasing need for such objective assessments to assist with the evaluation of novel therapeutics in future clinical trials. This study will focus on identifying and describing any involvement of the eye and will further study these findings in relation to clinical progression, imaging and blood biomarkers. This study will allow us to assess these changes longitudinally in order to assess their value as prognostic or disease tracking biomarkers.
REC name
London - London Bridge Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
22/PR/0619
Date of REC Opinion
30 May 2022
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion