High Protein Diet and Huntington's Disease

PLoS One. 2015 May 19;10(5):e0127654. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0127654. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

Huntington's disease (HD) is a neurodegenerative disorder caused by the huntingtin (HTT) gene with expanded CAG repeats. In addition to the apparent brain abnormalities, impairments also occur in peripheral tissues. We previously reported that mutant Huntingtin (mHTT) exists in the liver and causes urea cycle deficiency. A low protein diet (17%) restores urea cycle activity and ameliorates symptoms in HD model mice. It remains unknown whether the dietary protein content should be monitored closely in HD patients because the normal protein consumption is lower in humans (~15% of total calories) than in mice (~22%). We assessed whether dietary protein content affects the urea cycle in HD patients. Thirty HD patients were hospitalized and received a standard protein diet (13.7% protein) for 5 days, followed by a high protein diet (HPD, 26.3% protein) for another 5 days. Urea cycle deficiency was monitored by the blood levels of citrulline and ammonia. HD progression was determined by the Unified Huntington's Disease Rating Scale (UHDRS). The HPD increased blood citrulline concentration from 15.19 μmol/l to 16.30 μmol/l (p = 0.0378) in HD patients but did not change blood ammonia concentration. A 2-year pilot study of 14 HD patients found no significant correlation between blood citrulline concentration and HD progression. Our results indicated a short period of the HPD did not markedly compromise urea cycle function. Blood citrulline concentration is not a reliable biomarker of HD progression.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Citrulline / blood
  • Dietary Proteins / administration & dosage*
  • Disease Progression
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Huntington Disease / blood
  • Huntington Disease / physiopathology*
  • Male
  • Urea / metabolism

Substances

  • Dietary Proteins
  • Citrulline
  • Urea

Grants and funding

This study was supported by grants from the Academia Sinica (AS-97-TP-B02 and AS-103-TP-B10 to Y Chern) and the Institute of Biomedical Sciences/Academia Sinica (Clinical Research Center grants, CRC98-P03B to Y Chern, CM Chen, and BW Soong).