Targeted Parkinson’s drugs could help far more people than previously thought

New treatments being developed to block a hyperactive enzyme called LRRK2 could work for people who have no genetic mutations at all. Until now, scientists believed that this enzyme ran out of control only in people who inherited rare genetic mistakes. Because of that, upcoming clinical trials testing drugs to slow down LRRK2 have focused almost entirely on that tiny group. A study published on 26 September 2026 in npj Parkinson's Disease proves that assumption wrong. Researchers at the University of Lübeck looked at living blood cells rather than just reading DNA letters. When they measured how hard the LRRK2 enzyme was actually working, they discovered that roughly one in seven people with no genetic mutations had the exact same overdrive as those with inherited forms of the condition. The enzyme behaves like a jammed accelerator pedal, cluttering up the cell and stopping it from clearing out biological waste. This means that measuring cell behaviour in real time, rather than relying solely on genetic tests, could immediately qualify a much larger group of people for targeted, life changing therapies.