Scientific Milestones

1872
Description of clinical features and genetics of HD (George Huntington)

1911
Description of pathologic changes in the striatum and cortex in HD (Alois Alzheimer)

1962
Identification of large Venezuela HD pedigree (A. Negrette)

1976
Excitotoxic model of cell death (Joseph Coyle and Robert Schwartz and McGeer and McGeer)

1983
Linkage of the HD gene to chromosome 4 (James Gusella, Marcy MacDonald, et al)

1985
Neuropathological classification of HD (Jean-Paul Vonsattel)

1985
Refinement of excitotoxic model to match pattern of cell death in HD (Beal, Young, Greenamyre and Schwarcz and others)

1986
Initial linkage testing (Joseph Martin, Susan Folstein and Jason Brandt)

1995
CAG Repeat expressed as polyglutamine in huntingtin protein (RM Myers lab and Ross lab)

1995
First huntingtin-interacting protein (Ross lab)

1995
Mouse knockout shows huntingtin necessary for normal development (MacDonald/Gusella, Hayden and Zeitlin)
First transgenic mouse model (Gillian Bates)

1996
Discovery of inclusions (Davies and Bates, DiFiglia)

1997
In vitro model and assay for huntingtin aggregation (Erich Wanker)

1997
First multi-center HD therapeutic trial (CARE-HD) begins (Kieburtz, Shoulson et al)

1997
First cell models (Hayden, Ross and Mandel labs)

1998
First invertebrate (Drosophila) models (Bonini and Zipursky labs)

1998
Therapeutic effects in mouse model-Caspase 1 inhibition (Robert Freidlander)