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Prion proteins and the gut: une liaison dangereuse?
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Introduction |
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Ever since Gajdusek implicated a "slow virus" in the transmission of Kuru, the oral route of "infection" of spongiform encephalopathies has attracted considerable interest. Transmission studies in transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) have currently become an even more important area of study due to the possible transmission of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) to humans resulting in "new variant" Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD). Prusiner's hypothesis that TSEs are caused by small proteinaceous infectious particles "prions" took considerable time to gain widespread recognition among the scientific establishment. The importance of these discoveries was vindicated by awards of Nobel prizes to Gajdusek and more recently to Prusiner.
Two forms of prion proteins are recognised
normal host encoded
cellular prion protein (PrPc) and its pathological
malfolded isoform (PrPSc)which accumulate in the brain in
TSEs including vCJD. PrPc is a copper binding glycoprotein
attached to the plasma membrane through a
glycosyl-phosphatidyl-inositol
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