<H1>Members of the PD tribe are forever bombarded with cures and rumors of cures.</h1>

The search for a cure is on and from all reports, it will soon be successful. Scientists from around the world are doing their best to help us.

Don't you wish that you could believe this? After all, we have heard it before, got our hopes up, only to have them discarded and thrown out with yesterday's newspaper.

But, we should look at research that seems to offer a glimpse into a satisfactory future. What work is being done on finding a cause of PD and knowing that, how can that cause be eliminated (if you know the cause, you can find a cure)?

Today, we will look at one possible cause of PD - Heredity. Genetics is thought to play a role in a small portion of the tribe. This theory posits that if the find the gene responsible for the fate of families which have a high rate of PD(about 10%) then we can apply that knowledge to the other 90%.

Late in the last century, scientists studied an Italian family which was prone to develop parkinson's. This family had relatives in the Americas and Europe (does that eliminate environment?) and a mutation in their gene was discovered. This mutation seems to cause the brain to create extra alpha synuclein, a protein found naturally in the brain but, when it starts to aggregate, it forms insoluble "clumps"in the brains of patients owning such diseases as Parkinson's disease, dementia with Lewy bodies and multiple system atrophy. The same gene was found in an Iowan family with an unnatural high incidence of Parkinson's.

The tactic under study is to use lab prepared antibodies to attack the invading protein to prevent it clumping in the brain. In other words, the immune system would be the primary protector and champion of the brain in the war against PD.

Is this science fiction? No, a similar approach is in its late stages to develop a lab produced antibody in the case of Alzheimer's and so far, early results indicated a 71% decline in clinical dementia. Things are looking up but the development of the vaccine is slow and some scientists estimate it will be about 7, or so, years before such treatment will be available(2022 - ) Keep the faith. We have waited a long time; what's a few more years? And, if it works on Alzheimer's patients, there is no reason to assume it won't work on Parkinson's victims.

Continuing in a cure mode--😂--->