Taken together, our respective studies thus found α-synuclein to be protective in four, complementary, well-established in vivo infection paradigms (including in viral and bacterial models) and using three different routes of inoculation for these pathogens (i.e., intravenous, the nose pad, and subcutaneous); these routes are likely to elicit distinct responses by a mammalian host, both within immune cells and other nucleated cells. This evidence concerns the gene SNCA and infection.