Huntington’s Disease: A Dismal Destiny

Fate. It is one of the most rudimentary philosophical debates humanity has dealt with since the creation of civilization. The debate between whether the individual has a predestined future or instead constructs their own path has argument for both sides. However, those individuals afflicted with Huntington’s disease might be more pessimistic on their views towards fate. Huntington’s is among the cruelest fates pitted for humanity because they are cursed with manipulated genetic material given to them by their parents. This genetic disease robs their individuality, intelligence, and motor skills without any hope of reversing the affliction. Those who suffer from the gene mutation lose their intellectual capacities, have uncontrollable limb spasms called chorea, and most understandably experience fits of depression and irritability. In essence, Huntington’s disease is a time bomb. When it goes off those affected by this mutation lose their past, their present, and their future.

To fully understand the fatality of being sentenced with Huntington’s, one has only to look at the human genome. Huntington’s disease is not a sickness that is transmitted through virus or bacteria. Instead, Huntington’s is caused by a mutation in the HTT gene which provides information to produce the huntingtin protein. (ghr.com, 2013, pp.5) Specifically, Huntington’s is caused by the repetition of the codon sequence CAG which codes for the amino acid glutamine. Little is known regarding what function chromosome four has when working regularly other than its close relationship with neurons. Chromosome four’s infamy comes from the overabundance of repetitions of the amino acid glutamine. In an average human being there is somewhere between 10 to 35 repetit...

... middle of paper ...

...omb in existence and one of the worst sentences a person could ever receive.

Works Cited

American Speech-Language-Hearing Association . (n.d.). Huntington's Disease. Retrieved April 27, 2014, from http://www.asha.org/public/speech/disorders/HuntingtonsDisease.htm

Collins, J. (2013, November 1). Could There Eventually be a Cure for Huntington's Disease. In The Nerve Blog. Retrieved April 27, 2014, from http://sites.bu.edu/ombs/2013/11/01/could-there-be-a-cure-for-huntingtons-disease/

Genetic Home Reference . (2013, June). Huntington's Disease . Retrieved April 27, 2014, from http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/huntington-disease

Meiser, B., & Dunn, S. (2001, May). Pyschological Effect of Genetic Testing for Huntington's Disease. In National Center for Biotechnology Information. Retrieved April 27, 2014, from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1071392/