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Gut 2001;48:443-447; doi:10.1136/gut.48.4.443
Copyright © 2001 BMJ Publishing Group Ltd & British Society of Gastroenterology.
Gut 2001;48:443-447 ( April )

Leading article

Prion proteins and the gut: une liaison dangereuse?

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

    Introduction

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 . . . [Full text of this article]


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This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Morel, E., Andrieu, T., Casagrande, F., Gauczynski, S., Weiss, S., Grassi, J., Rousset, M., Dormont, D., Chambaz, J. (2005). Bovine Prion Is Endocytosed by Human Enterocytes via the 37 kDa/67 kDa Laminin Receptor. Am. J. Pathol. 167: 1033-1042 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Morel, E., Fouquet, S., Chateau, D., Yvernault, L., Frobert, Y., Pincon-Raymond, M., Chambaz, J., Pillot, T., Rousset, M. (2004). The Cellular Prion Protein PrPc Is Expressed in Human Enterocytes in Cell-Cell Junctional Domains. J. Biol. Chem. 279: 1499-1505 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Thackray, A. M., Klein, M. A., Bujdoso, R. (2003). Subclinical Prion Disease Induced by Oral Inoculation. J. Virol. 77: 7991-7998 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Bramble, M G, Ironside, J W (2002). Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease: implications for gastroenterology. Gut 50: 888-890 [Abstract] [Full Text]  

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