scrapie

TWiV 950: Prion diseases with Richard Knight

From the European Society for Clinical Virology 2022 Conference in Manchester UK, Vincent speaks with Richard Knight about prion diseases and the outbreak of bovine spongiform encephalitis that led to cases of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans. Host: Vincent Racaniello Guest: Richard Knight Click arrow to playDownload TWiV 950 (68 MB .mp3, 114 min)Subscribe (free): Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, RSS, email Become …

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Toll to the Rescue

by Gertrud U. Rey Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) include a variety of fatal neurodegenerative diseases caused by infectious proteins called prions. Although prions are not viruses, their ability to self-propagate without a nucleic acid intermediate has always fascinated virologists, causing them to adopt prions into their repertoire of pathogenic agents. Common TSEs comprise scrapie in …

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How prions make you sick

Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) are rare, but always fatal, neurodegenerative disorders of humans and other mammals. They are characterized by long incubation periods, spongiform changes in the brain associated with loss of neurons, and the absence of host responses. TSEs are caused by infectious proteins called prions. Insight into how prions cause TSEs comes from the observation that …

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Detecting prions by quaking and shaking

The human prion disease, Creutzfeld-Jacob, is diagnosed by a variety of criteria, including clinical features, electroencephalograms, and magnetic resonance imaging. Until recently there was no non-invasive assay to detect PrPSc, the only specific marker for the disease. This challenge has been overcome using amplification procedures to detect Creutzfeldt-Jakob prions in nasal brushings and in urine. These …

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