Prion

Prion Disease Agent Causes Heart Damage

These findings raise the possibility that heart infection could be a new aspect of prion diseases, including those that affect humans and livestock //, and that these diseases could travel through the blood. The paper is being published on Friday, July 7 in an advanced, online edition of the journal Science. Prion diseases-also known as transmissible spongiform encephalopa...

Role of Hsp 104 in the Spread of Prion Diseases

Protein’s role in the spread of the lethal Prion diseases has been brought to light by researchers from Brown University//. This was published in an online edition of PLoS Biology. Researchers under Tricia Serio have revealed that the protein Hsp 104 is responsible for the spread and multiplication of Prion diseases. This protein breaks up groups of such infectious proteins leading to...

Single Protein Plays A Major Role In Prion Diseases

A single protein plays a major role in deadly prion diseases by smashing up clusters of these infectious proteins,// creating the "seeds" that allow fatal brain illnesses to quickly spread, new Brown University research shows. The findings are exciting, researchers say, because they might reveal a way to control the spread of prions through drug intervention. If a drug could be made th...

Study Finds Prion Proteins in Milk

A study has identified the presence of normal prion proteins in milk from humans, cows, sheep//, and goats. "Prion Protein in Milk" appeared in the December issue of PLoS One, an online journal from the Public Library of Science, available at www.plosone.org. Infectious prion proteins cause transmissible spongiform encephalopathies in many species, including scrapie in sheep....

Vaccine Prevents Prion Disease in Mice

An oral vaccine can prevent mice from developing a brain disease similar to mad cow disease, according to research that will be presented at the American// Academy of Neurology's 59th Annual Meeting in Boston, April 28 – May 5, 2007. Prion diseases, which include scrapie, mad cow disease, and chronic wasting disease, are fatal and there is no treatment or cure. The disease spreads whe...

Vaccine Prevents Prion Disease in Mice

An oral vaccine can prevent mice from developing a brain disease similar to mad cow disease, according to research that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 59th Annual Meeting in Boston, April 28 May 5, 2007. Prion diseases, which include scrapie, mad cow disease, and chronic wasting disease, are fatal and there is no treatment or cure. The disease spreads whe...

Significant Advances in VCJD Prion Detection

Scientists have made significant advances towards the development of a technique that could be used to confirm whether someone is infected with variant CJD . The technique, which has so far been used mainly in animal models, works by mimicking and accelerating the replication of prions - abnormal proteins that progressively kill off brain tissue and are thought to cause the disease. <b...

Prions Capacity can Be Aggrevated by Solid Particles

According to a new study,the rogue proteins that cause chronic wasting disease (CWD) exhibit a dramatic increase in their infectious nature when bound to common soil particles . Writing in the journal Public Library of Science (PLoS) Pathogens, a group led by University of Wisconsin-Madison prion expert Judd Aiken reports that prions, the protein agents of a family of fatal brain disor...

New Insights into Prion Propogation

Prions -- infectious, oddly-folded proteins that are the main suspects in fatal neurodegenerative diseases such as Cruetzfeldt-Jakob and bovine spongiform encephalopathy , or "mad cow" -- remain mostly a mystery to scientists. Very few prions have been fully described. How they infect and propagate is not fully understood. New insights into prion propagation reported in the Molecular C...

Prions Prevent Alzheimers Disease

A role for prion proteins, the much debated agents of mad cow disease and vCJD, has been identified. It appears that the normal prions produced by the body help to prevent the plaques that build up in the brain to cause Alzheimers disease. The possible function for the mysterious proteins was discovered by a team of scientists led by Medical Research Council funded scientist Professor...