Can leukocyte telomere shortening be a possible biomarker to track Huntington's disease progression

HD is an autosomal dominant neurodegenerative disease, caused by a CAG trinucleotide repeat expansion in the first exon of the HTT gene encoding the huntingtin protein. The mutant protein contains an expanded polyglutamine sequence that confers a toxic gain-of-function and causes neurodegeneration. Leukocyte telomere length (LTL) measurement seems to possess distinctive features required for a suitable biomarker to detect HD progression: it is easy to obtain, readily quantifiable and reproducible, and closely linked to the pathophysiology of HD. In premanifest HD individuals, LTL shows a very significant linear relationship with the estimated years to the clinical onset of HD and could predict the time at clinical diagnosis with good probability levels.