This is potentially big news. It hit the press on 9/25 so please forgive if I am duplicating.

Looks like researchers may have found our "Golden Ticket". Yes, researchers at Columbia U have isolated what they think might be the common basis for sporadic PD. Yes, it does have to do with alpha-synuclein. It was discovered in doing some meta-research in gene network mapping and transcription analysis that

It turns out multiple different alpha-synuclein transcript forms are generated during the initial step in making the disease protein; our study implicates the longer transcript forms as the major culprits...

Some very common genetic variants in the alpha-synuclein gene, present in many people, are known to impact the likelihood that an individual will suffer from sporadic Parkinson's. In our study, we show that people with 'bad' variants of the gene make more of the elongated alpha-synuclein transcript forms. This ultimately means that more of the disease protein is made and may accumulate in the brain.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0925142559.htm

Furthermore, the researchers found that exposure to certain toxins "can increase the abundance of this longer transcript form of alpha-synuclein. Thus, this mechanism may represent a common pathway by which environmental and genetic factors impact the disease,"

Interesting... we have the genetics covered, toxins, a simple blood test to read levels of the elongated mutation to diagnose, and a potential new treatment target in drugs to stop the or reduce the accumulation of this toxic alpha -syn forms.

Best news is this info has all been validated in real live patients.

The finding is particularly intriguing, but needs to be validated in additional patient groups," said Dr. Abeliovich.

This is the pivotal point (one that I think that PWPboy was trying to relay) is that MJFF initially funded this study. There are lots of us who would gladly become the additional patient groups. What is the next step for the researcher here? Anyone know?

we must have pretty good defenses against environmental toxins, etc. since with identical twins, no greater chance other twin will get pd, slight familial chance and you just don't see clusters even though within in a community it's likely everyone gets some exposure. so seems you have to have just the right combination of "insults" to your system, maybe add in a bad flu, concussion, just 1 episode of a chemical exposure.

personally, i can think of things that happened to me that didn't happen to my siblings, concussions playing football, getting chicken pox in my 30's, taking a systemic medicine for toenail fungus, working in a research lab with a lot of organic solvents, worked in ag research around experimental chemicals, the list goes on.
maybe just one tainted meal?

Scientists recently made a huge discovery that explains why this happens. Hmmm...thought I posted it here. The gist of it is that once scientists considered "junk DNA" is actually the a switch system that controls how cells, tissues, and organs interact and behave. In other words it is not a mutation itself that causes disease but rather this switch system that modulates how our system reacts to environment. In essence, it neatly explains why one twin gets PD while the other goes unscathed.

From the report:

The discovery, considered a major medical and scientific breakthrough, has enormous implications for human health because many complex diseases appear to be caused by tiny changes in hundreds of gene switches.


The report:

Far from "Junk"DNA...

Oops, forgot to share it after all...I was preoccupied with trying to impress a biologist.

Well now you know

Laura