prion

enUK

prion

(prē`ŏn), abnormal form of a protein found in mammals, believed to cause a group of diseases known as prion diseases or transmissible spongiform encephalopathies. Well-known prion diseases are Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) and kuru in humans, scrapie in sheep, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), also called "mad cow disease," in cattle, and chronic wasting disease in deer and elk (wapiti). There is no effective treatment for any prion disease.

Sometimes taking more than 30 years to display symptoms, the diseases slowly attack brain tissue, often leaving spongelike holes. They are characterized by accumulations of prions, abnormal forms of a protein called prion protein. Unlike virusesvirus,
parasite with a noncellular structure composed mainly of nucleic acid within a protein coat. Most viruses are too small (100–2,000 Angstrom units) to be seen with the light microscope and thus must be studied by electron microscopes.
..... Click the link for more information. or bacteriabacteria
[pl. of bacterium], microscopic unicellular prokaryotic organisms characterized by the lack of a membrane-bound nucleus and membrane-bound organelles. Once considered a part of the plant kingdom, bacteria were eventually placed in a separate kingdom, Monera.
..... Click the link for more information. , prions contain no genetic material and have no known ability to reproduce themselves. Normal prion proteins occur naturally in brain tissue. Prions differ in shape from normal prion proteins due to misfolding, and are not susceptible to enzymes that normally break down proteins. In the brain, prions appear to increase their number by directly converting normal prion proteins.

Prion diseases have both infectious and hereditary components. The gene that codes for prion proteins can mutate and be passed on to the next generation. Most of the diseases also can be acquired directly by infection with prions, but unlike other infectious agents, prions provoke no immune response. Most prion diseases, however, are not highly transmissable; chronic wasting disease is the exception because infected deer that have not developed the disease shed prions from lymph tissue in their intestines, contaminating the soil and plants on which other deer graze with the prions in their feces.

An epidemic of BSE in Great Britain that was diagnosed in 1986 and infected some 178,000 cows appears to have been caused by a protein feed supplement that contained rendered remains of scrapie-infected sheep brains. In 1996 a suspicion that BSE had been transmitted to humans who died of a variant of CJD in Britain caused a scientific and economic furor as the European Union imposed a ban (1996) on the export of British beef, which was partially lifted in 1999 and fully lifted in 2006. The U.S. Dept. of Agriculture banned the import of cattle and many cattle byproducts from most European nations because of BSE. Instances of BSE in cattle have also occurred in many other European countries, Canada, the United States, and Japan, but the vast majority of cases occurred in Britain in the 1980s. There is now compelling evidence that BSE is the same disease as variant CJD (vCJD), which has killed less than 200 people, but it is not yet known exactly how the disease is passed from animals to humans.

The idea of disease-causing protein particles was first put forward in 1981 by Stanley B. PrusinerPrusiner, Stanley Ben,
1942–, American neurologist, b. Des Moines, Iowa, M.D. Univ. of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, 1968. Prusiner has been a professor at the Univ. of California, San Francisco since 1974.
..... Click the link for more information. , the neurologist who coined the term prion (from proteinaceous infectious particle). The prion theory was controversial from the beginning, and although scientific evidence for the existence of such infectious particles has increased, an exact causal link between prions and the diseases they are believed to cause remains to be established. Critics believe that these diseases are caused by unidentified viruses.

prion

[′prī‚än] (biochemistry) Any of a group of infectious proteins that cause fatal neurodegenerative diseases in humans and animals, including scrapie and bovine spongiform encephalopathy in animals and Creutzefeldt-Jakob disease and Gerstmann-Straussler-Scheinker disease in humans.

prion

enUK

prion

[pri´on] any of several pathogenic, transmissible forms of the core of prion protein that cause a group of degenerative diseases of the nervous system known as prion diseases. Prions have a structure different from that of normal prion protein, lack detectable nucleic acid, and do not elicit an immune response.prion disease any of a group of fatal degenerative diseases of the nervous system caused by abnormalities in the metabolism of prion protein. These diseases are unique in that they may be transmitted genetically as an autosomal dominant trait, or by infection with abnormal forms of the protein (prions). Inherited forms result from mutations in the gene that codes for prion protein; such mutations may also occur sporadically. Hereditary forms include some forms of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, Gerstmann-Sträussler syndrome, and fatal familial insomnia. Infectious forms of the disease result from ingestion of infected tissue or the introduction of infected tissue into the body (kuru" >kuru and some forms of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease). The latter has occasionally occurred during surgical procedures; it has also occurred as the result of injection of human growth hormone prepared from infected pituitary glands. Prion diseases also occur in animals. Called also transmissible neurodegenerative disease and subacute spongiform or transmissible spongiform encephalopathy.

pri·on

(prī'on), An infectious proteinaceous particle of nonnucleic acid composition; the causative agent, either on a sporadic, genetic, or infectious basis, of neurodegenerative diseases in animals, and humans. The latter include the spongiform encephalopathies of kuru, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), Gerstmann-Sträussler-Scheinker (GSS) syndrome, and fatal familial insomnia. The gene encoding prion protein (PrP) occurs on chromosome 20. Synonym(s): prion protein [proteinaceous infectious particle]

Stanley B. Prusiner received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1997 for his discovery of prions. Prusiner began his research in 1972 to identify the infectious agent of CJD. In 1982 he and his colleagues isolated a protein that was capable of transmitting infection but, unlike all other known pathogens, contained neither DNA nor RNA. Prusiner's term for this protein, prion, was derived from the phrase proteinaceous infectious particle. A gene encoding this protein has been found in all mammals tested, including human beings. The prion protein can occur in either of two structural conformations, one that is normal (but of unknown function), designated PrPc, and one that results in disease, called PrPSc. The normal prion protein is a component of lymphocytes and other cells and is particularly abundant on the cell membranes of central nervous system (CNS) neurons. The PrPSc prion protein is extremely stable and is resistant to proteolysis, organic solvents, and high temperatures. Having been produced or acquired by a suitable host, it can initiate a chain reaction whereby normal PrPc protein is converted into the more stable PrPSc form. After a long, asymptomatic incubation period, the disease-causing PrPSc accumulates to reach neurotoxic levels. Symptoms of prion diseases vary with the parts of the brain affected. All known prion diseases are eventually lethal. Prion diseases are called spongiform encephalopathies because of the histologic appearance of affected cerebral cortex and cerebellum, which display large vacuoles. Probably most mammalian species develop these diseases. Prions are not living, are smaller than viruses, and do not elicit an immune response in either their normal or disease-causing form. Prion diseases besides CJD include kuru (once prevalent among the Fore People of New Guinea, who practiced cannibalism), bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, mad cow disease), and scrapie, a disease of sheep. A new variant of CJD may have arisen through transmission of prions to human beings from cattle infected with BSE. Prion diseases are unique in being both infectious and hereditary. Hereditary forms are due to transmitted mutations in the prion gene, located on chromosome 20 in human beings. GSS disease is a hereditary dementia resulting from a mutation in this gene. Approximately 50 families with GSS mutations have been identified. About 10-15% of cases of CJD are caused by inherited mutations in the prion protein gene. Strains of mice from which this gene has been abolished are immune to prion-caused disease. see Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, bovine spongiform encephalopathy.

prion

(prī′ŏn′, prē′-)n. A protein particle that is the agent of infection in a variety of neurodegenerative diseases, including bovine spongiform encephalopathy, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, and scrapie. Prions are the only known infectious agents that do not contain DNA or RNA. They derive from a normal body protein that becomes irreversibly misfolded, and they proliferate in the body, possibly by acting as a template for further protein misfolding.

PRNP

A gene on chromosome 20p13 that encodes a membrane glycosyl-phosphatidylinositol-anchored glycoprotein, which aggregates into rod-like structures and contains a highly unstable region of five tandem octapeptide repeats. The exact function of PrP is unknown.
Molecular pathology
PRNP mutations are linked to Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, fatal familial insomnia, Gerstmann-Straussler disease, Huntington-like disease 1 and kuru.

prion

Slow spongiform encephalopathy virus Molecular medicine An unconventional 33–35 kD sialoglycoprotein, the smallest known infective particle and implicated in diseases of man–Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease-CJD, fatal familial insomnia, Gerstmann-Straussler-Scheinker syndrome, kuru, and animals–scrapie of sheep and goats, bovine spongiform encephalopathy, transmissible mink encephalopathy, chronic wasting disease of captive mule, deer, elk. See Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, Protein-only hypothesis.

pri·on pro·tein

(prī'on prō'tēn) Small, infectious proteinaceous particle, of nonnucleic acid composition; the causative agent of four spongiform encephalopathies in humans: kuru, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, Gerstmann-Straüssler-Scheinker syndrome, and fatal familial insomnia. The gene encoding for the PrP is found on chromosome 20.
Synonym(s): prion.

prion

an infectious PROTEIN particle, devoid of NUCLEIC ACID. Prions are thought to cause certain degenerative diseases of the NERVOUS SYSTEM, for example SCRAPIE in sheep and goats, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in cattle, and Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease (CJD) and Gerstmann-Straussler Syndrome (GSS) in humans.

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Words related to prion

noun (microbiology) an infectious protein particle similar to a virus but lacking nucleic acid

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