Increased irritability, anxiety, and immune reactivity in transgenic Huntington’s disease monkeys

Abstract

Although the most notable clinical symptoms of Huntington’s disease (HD) are motor disturbances and brain atrophy, other symptoms include cognitive dysfunction, emotional and hormonal dysregulation. Emotional dysregulation (irritability, anger/aggression, and anxiety) and increased inflammation are early emerging symptoms which can be detected decades before the onset of motor symptoms in HD patients. Despite the advances in understanding the genetic causes of HD there is still no cure or preventative treatment. Thus, to better understand the pathogenesis of HD and develop effective treatments, a holistic understanding of HD is needed, as well as animal models that replicate the full spectrum of HD symptoms. The current study examined the emotional, hormonal, and gene expression responses to an acute stressor of adult male transgenic HD rhesus monkeys (n=2) as compared to wild-type controls (n=2). Results revealed that HD monkeys expressed increased anxiety and irritability/aggression as compared to controls. Reactive cortisol response to the stressor was similar between groups. However, HD monkeys exhibited increased pro-inflammatory cytokines and higher induction of immune pathway genes as compared to controls. Overall, results reveal that HD monkeys exhibit these early emerging symptoms of HD and may be an effective animal model to facilitate the development of new therapeutics for HD patients.