Abstract
MAD COW DISEASE, CREUTZfeldt-Jakob disease in people, and other TSEs (transmissible spongiform encephalopathies) can currently only be diagnosed by postmortem tests on brain tissue. Prions, the errant infectious proteins that cause these diseases, are plentiful in brain tissue but are so scarce in blood and other accessible tissues that detecting them routinely in live subjects has not been feasible. But in a study that could make such diagnoses possible, researchers have developed a remarkably simple technique for converting the normal form of prion protein found in the body (prion protein cellular, PrP c ) into an abnormal form closely resembling infectious prions (prion protein scrapie, or PrP Sc ). The technique, called protein-misfolding cyclic amplification (PMCA), is like a polymerase chain reation (PCR) for prions. It was developed by Claudio Soto, head of neurodegenerative diseases research at Serono Pharmaceutical Research Institute, Geneva, and coworkers Gabriela P. Saborio and Bruno Permanne [...
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
