BACKGROUND A hallmark of prion disease is the transformation of normal cellular prion protein (PrPc) into an infectious disease-associated isoform, (PrPsc). Anti-prion protein monoclonal antibodies are invaluable for structure-function studies of PrP molecules. Furthermore recent in vitro and in vivo studies indicate that anti-PrP monoclonal antibodies can prevent the incorporation of PrPc into...

Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), the prion disease in cattle, was widely believed to be caused by only one strain, BSE-C. BSE-C causes the fatal prion disease named new variant Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease in humans. Two atypical BSE strains, bovine amyloidotic spongiform encephalopathy (BASE, also named BSE-L) and BSE-H, have been discovered in several countries since 2004; their transmiss...

In most forms of prion disease, infectivity is present primarily in the central nervous system or immune system organs such as spleen and lymph node. However, a transgenic mouse model of prion disease has demonstrated that prion infectivity can also be present as amyloid deposits in heart tissue. Deposition of infectious prions as amyloid in human heart tissue would be a significant public heal...

Prion diseases caused by aggregated misfolded prion protein (PrP) are transmissible neurodegenerative disorders that occur in both humans and animals. Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) has preventive effects on prion disease; however, the mechanisms related to preventing prion diseases are unclear. We investigated whether EGCG, the main polyphenol in green tea, prevents neuron cell damage induc...

Human prion diseases are fatal neurodegenerative disorders with a genetic, sporadic or infectiously acquired aetiology. Neuropathologically, human prion diseases are characterized by deposition of misfolded prion protein and neuronal loss. In post-mortem brain tissue from patients with other neurodegenerative diseases characterized by protein misfolding, including Alzheimer's disease (AD) and f...

Prion diseases such as scrapie in sheep, bovine spongiform encephalopathy in cattle, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, Gerstmann-Sträussler-Scheinker disease and fatal familial insomnia in man are neurodegenerative disorders. In humans, the diseases can be sporadic, inherited, or acquired by infection. The underlying pathogenic event in prion diseases is a conformational modification of the cellular i...

Misfolding of the natively α-helical prion protein into a β-sheet rich isoform is related to various human diseases such as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and Gerstmann-Sträussler-Scheinker syndrome. In humans, the disease phenotype is modified by a methionine/valine polymorphism at codon 129 of the prion protein gene. Using a combination of hydrogen/deuterium exchange coupled to NMR spectroscopy, h...

BACKGROUND Iatrogenic transmission of human prion disease can occur through medical or surgical procedures, including injection of hormones such as gonadotropins extracted from cadaver pituitaries. Annually, more than 300,000 women in the United States and Canada are prescribed urine-derived gonadotropins for infertility. Although menopausal urine donors are screened for symptomatic neurologica...

We develop a mathematical model that describes concentration dynamics of PrP (Prion Protein Cellular) and Scrapie) prion proteins at the neuron scale includes effect unfolded protein response (UPR). first introduce single taking UPR mechanism into account. investigate it propose stability study among which bifurcation analysis with respect to three its parameters. Then, we generalize two neuron...

Prion diseases such as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans, bovine spongiform encephalopathy in cattle, and scrapie in sheep are fatal neurodegenerative diseases for which there is no effective treatment. The pathology of these diseases involves the conversion of a protease sensitive form of the cellular prion protein (PrPC) into a protease resistant infectious form (PrPsc or PrPres). Both in v...