NR APDM
AU Bradbury,J.
TI How do prion proteins get to the brain?
QU Lancet 1997 Sep 6; 350(9079): 718
PT Article
VT
New data explaining how abnormal prion proteins get into the central nervous system may help researchers develop ways to block infection with prion proteins.
An abnormal isoform of prion protein, PrPres, is believed to be the infectious agent in transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, and consumption of beef from cattle with bovine spongiform encephalopathy has been linked to new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in man. But how does PrPres get from the gut to the brain to cause disease?
Adriano Aguzzi (University of Zürich, Switzerland) and colleagues report that, at least in mice, lymphohaemopoietic stem cells are the main site of prion replication after intraperitoneal or intravenous inoculation of scrapie prions (Nature 1997; 387: 69-73). However, these sites are not enough to produce a productive infection of the central nervous system and it seems likely that this requires a chain of tissues expressing endogenous prion proteins. The researchers speculate that the peripheral nervous system could be involved in this chain.
Jane Bradbury
ZR 1 Zitat
SP englisch