Julie Stout's Laboratory

Clinical & Cognitive Neuroscience Research

Huntington's Disease Toolkit

The HD Toolkit project seeks to identify a set of optimal tests and assays for use in clinical trials of compounds that have the potential to delay the onset and/or the progression of HD. As such, we believe this is an important step toward our ability to offer hope to those who are genetically predisposed to HD and their families.

• We are performing a series of systematic reviews looking for tests that are sensitive to the subtle changes occurring in pre-diagnostic and early HD. In the first year, we are reviewing measures of cognitive and motor performance, and in subsequent years we will evaluate psychiatric, neuroimaging, functional, and biochemical markers.
• By combining meta-analyses with other methods to factor in important variables (e.g. cost, patient acceptance, language, etc.) we will formulate a set of recommendations based on the most current scientific evidence. Validity, reliability, feasibility and evidence that the marker demonstrates a linear longitudinal change with disease progression will all be important considerations.
• An interactive website will be developed and maintained to:
  • Allow investigators to access the data obtained about each measure along with our specific recommendations regarding which measures are optimal.
  • Help investigators choose the most appropriate measures for their particular clinical trial and setting.
  • Provide methods for investigators to obtain, implement, analyze, and interpret the recommended measures.
  • Enable clinical investigators to access and exchange scientific information quickly and easily through the use of a Clinical Trials Data Repository and a database of scientific articles.