Prion

:This article is about the infectious particles known as prions. For the bird, see Prion (bird).

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Prions — short for proteinaceous infectious particle — are infectious self-reproducing protein structures. Though their exact mechanisms of action and reproduction are unknown, it is now commonly accepted that prions are responsible for a number of previously known but little-understood diseases generally classified under transmissible spongiform encephalopathy diseases (TSEs), including scrapie (a disease of sheep), kuru (found in members of the cannibalistic Foré tribe in Papua New Guinea), Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), Chronic Wasting Disease, Fatal Familial Insomnia (FFI), Gerstmann-Sträussler-Scheinker syndrome (GSS), and bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE or mad cow disease) (Collinge, 2001). These diseases affect the structure of brain tissue and all are fatal and untreatable.

Related Topics:
Protein - Transmissible spongiform encephalopathy - Scrapie - Sheep - Kuru - Cannibalistic - Foré tribe - Papua New Guinea - Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease - Chronic Wasting Disease - Fatal Familial Insomnia - Gerstmann-Sträussler-Scheinker syndrome - Bovine spongiform encephalopathy - Mad cow disease - 2001 - Brain

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