Experts hail 'milestone' in study of the deadly Huntington's disease

The genetic disorder is incurable but it is not uncommon for sufferers to reach middle-age before the physical symptoms — loss of motor skills and bodily functions, mental decline, emotional changes and depression — begin to manifest.

But buried deep in person's genetic code, mutations are building and repeating, accumulating until they reach a breaking point, when the fatal disease begins to show itself.

Nerve cells in the brain then begin dying, leading to symptoms similar to motor neurone disease and Alzheimer's, often requiring constant care despite years of no apparent illness.

But new research from MIT and Harvard has found why the deadly condition can lie dormant for decades, and offered a glimmer of hope on possible future treatment.

The new findings are now making waves internationally, with an Australian expert describing it as "one of the more important studies in the history of Huntington's research".

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