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Study published in Faculty of 1000 Research
Study published in Faculty of 1000 Research.
About this update from Oxford Biodynamics Plc
[{"type":"text","content":"\n \nRNS Number : 5938G Oxford BioDynamics PLC 07 November 2018 \n\n07 November 2018\n \nOxford BioDynamics Plc\n(\"OBD\" or the \"Company\" and, together with its subsidiaries, the \"Group\")\n \nStudy published in Faculty of 1000 Research identifies epigenetic changes for monitoring disease progression in Huntington's disease (HD)\n \n· There is a high clinical need for a molecular tool to assess disease progression in HD\n· Epigenetic changes identified by EpiSwitch™ can differentiate between healthy individuals, pre-symptomatic HD patients, and symptomatic HD patients\n· Following a study published earlier this year in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis1, this is the second successful application of EpiSwitch™ in a neurodegenerative condition\n· OBD presented its first epigenetic prognostic biomarkers for pre-symptomatic HD patients at the Cantor Fitzgerald Global Healthcare Conference in New York (1-3 October 2018)\n \nOxford BioDynamics Plc is pleased to note the publication of a paper in the open access scientific journal Faculty of 1000 Research entitled: \"Genomic architecture differences at the HTT locus underlie symptomatic and pre-symptomatic cases of Huntington's disease\".2 The results published in this study provide the first evidence that discrete and measurable epigenetic changes, in the form of chromosome conformation signatures, are observable in a Huntington's disease (HD) relevant gene locus.\n \nHD is a fatal, progressive condition that causes degeneration of neurons in the brain. HD is genetically inherited and is thought to affect more than 50,000 people in the United States and Europe alone.3 Currently there is no cure. Although diagnosis of HD is well established and is based on a relatively simple genetic test, predicting the onset of symptoms is difficult and there are currently no effective molecular tools to assess disease onset or progression in HD. For example, current disease assessment methods rely on physician-based surveys which are subjective and some not specific for HD.\n \nIn the study, Oxford BioDynamics' proprietary EpiSwitch™ platform, which monitors epigenetic changes known as chromosome conformation signatures, was used to assess epigenetic differences b...