A Two-Track Model of Huntington’s Disease Pathology: Striatal Atrophy Mediates Maladaptive Immune Dysregulation

Huntington's disease (HD) is characterized by progressive striatal atrophy and complex proteomic changes in the central nervous system. Using the ultrasensitive Next-Gen Ultra-Sensitive Immunoassay (NULISA) proteomic platform, we analyzed cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from 88 persons with HD to dissect the biological correlates of gray matter loss. Our findings reveal a distinct "Two-Track" model of pathology. The first track, marked by the axonal damage protein neurofilament light chain (NEFL), showed a strong inverse correlation with putamen volume (Pearson <i>r</i> = -0.53, <i>p</i> < 0.001), reinforcing its utility as a proxy for structural neurodegeneration. The second track was defined by a positive association between the immune regulator TNFRSF8 (CD30) and putamen volume (Pearson <i>r</i> = 0.36, <i>p</i> < 0.001), reflecting a decline in active immune-regulatory signaling as striatal atrophy advances. Given its established role in immune modulation, TNFRSF8 was pre-specified for follow-up to further interrogate this neuro-immune axis. Crucially, TNFRSF8 maintained an independent association with striatal volume (Beta = 0.24, <i>p</i> = 0.008) even after controlling for NEFL, genetic burden (CAG-Age Product score), and sex. Supplementary analyses confirmed that this structural-immune axis is localized specifically to the striatum-showing no association with generic structural control regions-and is driven by CAG repeat length rather than chronological aging. Furthermore, bidirectional mediation analysis supported an atrophy-driven model, where striatal volume statistically mediates the relationship between genetic burden and downstream immune dysregulation (<i>p</i> = 0.010). These results demonstrate that maladaptive immune signaling is a distinct pathological correlate in HD, separable from general cytoskeletal damage. This dual-axis framework warrants evaluation in larger longitudinal and interventional studies to guide future biomarker-driven patient stratification and target engagement.