Just to be clear, this is talking about stopping the SPREAD of malformed alpha-synuclein from one neuron to another. In other words, if this works, it would stop the progression of Parkinson's Disease - obviously a completely wonderful achievement.

BUT

Here's the thing: Most of us have had PD for years, even if we have been diagnosed with it only recently. The question is: Do most of our dopaminergic cells already have some level of malformed alpha-synuclein within them? Not enough to have killed all the neurons yet, but some? If so, the approach taken by this drug won't work, because once the malformed alpha-synuclein is inside a cell, nothing the drug does will help that cell. The drug only helps cells that have not yet been entered by malformed alpha-synuclein.

SO

Open question (I'm a computer scientist, not a biologist): For those of us diagnosed with PD, do most of our dopaminergic cells already have some level of alpha-synuclein within them, even if they are not yet dead?

Final thought: It seems to me that what is needed is a drug to clear out the malformed alpha-synuclein from within cells. That way, not only would the progression of the disease be stopped, but cells that are currently burdened by malformed alpha-synuclein but that have not yet died, would become productive again. So there could be some reversal of the disease, not merely a stopping of its progression.

Dan