Pathways to primary neurodegenerative disease.

Genetic analysis has revealed the pathogenic lesions that cause autosomal dominant Alzheimer's disease, prion disease, and some forms of Parkinson's disease. Molecular biological experiments based on these genetic findings allow a hypothesis to be configured linking these and the other diseases in which tangles or Lewy bodies are a pathological feature. In this article, this hypothesis is presented in the context of deriving curative treatments for these disorders.