Huntington's disease and cancer

A paper from Swedish researchers in this month's edition of the Lancet Oncology shows that people with Huntington's disease and other similar conditions have a lower risk of developing cancer than the general population. Certain neurodegenerative diseases like Huntington's are caused by gene faults that lead to an excessive buildup of specific proteins in nerve cells. At the moment it's not clear exactly how this leads to a reduced risk of cancer, but the scientists hope it could shed light on some of the molecular pathways that underpin the disease and even potentially lead to ways to prevent the disease in the future.