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Prions jump from animals to humans

09.02.2012

Prions are a kind of mutant proteins whose behavior is similar to mythical zombies: when a prion collides with a healthy protein similar to it, it changes its spatial structure, thus turning it into another prion. Quite often, such proteins lead to dangerous diseases and, as French scientists recently found out, they “pass” relatively easily from animals of one species to another.

In their paper published today in Science, the researchers described how they infected mice with prion diseases from other animal species. As it turned out, prions took root in an environment alien to them and even expanded the field of activity: such diseases usually occur in the brain, but in mice, prions changed proteins in other organs. "By focusing only on the brain, we may underestimate the danger of some prion diseases," says Pierluigi Gambetti. "That adds another unknown to the equation."

Scientists warn that newly discovered prion diseases in cattle and rodents could be transmitted to other species, including humans. To test this, the group of Professor Hubert Laude conducted an experiment on transgenic mice. The genomes of these mice have been altered to produce "human" versions of proteins susceptible to prion diseases. These experimental animals were injected with prions, which cause disease in cows and goats.

In about half of the animals, "wrong" versions of the proteins were subsequently found, and they were located mainly in the spleen. Mice, however, did not show any signs of the disease, but when they encounter other prion proteins, a more unpleasant outcome is probably possible.

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