Immunomodulation – a disease‐modifying avenue for treatment of Huntington's disease?

This Editorial highlights a study published in the current issue of Journal of Neurochemistry by Dobson et al . ([Dobson L., 2016]), investigating whether the immunomodulatory agent, laquinimod exerts an immunomodulatory effect on isolated Huntington's disease monocytes. In Huntington's disease (HD) a central immune activation is mirrored in the periphery by a low‐grade immune response and monocytes isolated from HD gene carriers have been shown pathologically hyperreactive in response to stimulation. This hyperreactive immune system has become recognized as an important feature of HD pathogenesis and the employment of a strategy to affect this hyperreactivity could be a potential disease‐modifying avenue in HD. Read the highlighted article ‘Laquinimod dampens hyperactive cytokine production in Huntington's disease patient myeloid cells’ on page 782.