brain sciences Article High and Low Levels of an NTRK2-Driven Genetic Profile Affect Motor- and Cognition-Associated Frontal Gray Matter in Prodromal Huntington’s Disease Jennifer A. Ciarochi 1 ID , Jingyu Liu 2, Vince Calhoun 2,3, Hans Johnson 4 ID , Maria Misiura 5, H. Jeremy Bockholt 2, Flor A. Espinoza 2, Arvind Caprihan 2, Sergey Plis 2, Jessica A. Turner 1,5,*, Jane S. Paulsen 4,6,7 ID and the PREDICT-HD Investigators and Coordinators of the Huntington Study Group † 1 Neuroscience Institute, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA 30302, USA;
[email protected] 2 The Mind Research Network, Albuquerque, NM 87106, USA;
[email protected] (J.L.);
[email protected] (V.C.);
[email protected] (H.J.B.);
[email protected] (F.A.E.);
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[email protected] (S.P.) 3 Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA 4 Iowa Mental Health Clinical Research Center, Department of Psychiatry, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA;
[email protected] (H.J.);
[email protected] (J.S.P.) 5 Department of Psychology, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA 30302, USA;
[email protected] 6 Department of Neurology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA 7 Department of Psychology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA * Correspondence:
[email protected]; Tel.: +1-404-413-6211 † Detailed information in Author Contribution part. Received: 16 May 2018; Accepted: 20 June 2018; Published: 22 June 2018 Abstract: This study assessed how BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor) and other genes involved in its signaling influence brain structure and clinical functioning in pre-diagnosis Huntington’s disease (HD).