From research conducted at the German Centre for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE)

Tracking down prions

Neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease are characterised by the misfolding of host-encoded proteins, which causes brain cells to die.

Picture prion protein — Left: normal prion protein (coloured green) in non-infected mouse cell cultures. Right: misfoldedprion form (coloured green) in infected cell which accumulate primarily in vesicles within the cell. Cell nucleiar edepicted in blue. Photo/Graphic: DZNE/I. Vorberg.

At the DZNE laboratory in Bonn, Professor Ina Vorberg is investigating the mechanisms underlying these diseases. Her area of research is transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs), which include the fatal Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. A special feature of TSEs is their transmissibility. They are triggered by prions – aggregates of misfolded proteins that can infect not only other cells, but also other organisms. “We are using two models to examine how prions recognise and penetrate their target cells and how they multiply within them,” says Vorberg. According to the scientist, the elucidation of these mechanisms will provide a basis for medications as well as new knowledge for the treatment of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

Andreas Fischer

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