Biochem Biophys Res Commun 2017 02 28;483(4):1148-1155. Epub 2016 Aug 28.
Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Padova, Via Bassi 58/B, 35131 Padova, Italy; C.N.R. Institute of Neuroscience, University of Padova, Via Bassi 58/B, 35131 Padova, Italy. Electronic address:
Prions are one of the few pathogens whose name is renowned at all population levels, after the dramatic years pervaded by the fear of eating prion-infected food. If now this, somehow irrational, scare of bovine meat inexorably transmitting devastating brain disorders is largely subdued, several prion-related issues are still unsolved, precluding the design of therapeutic approaches that could slow, if not halt, prion diseases. One unsolved issue is, for example, the role of the prion protein (PrP), whole conformational misfolding originates the prion but whose physiologic reason d'etre in neurons, and in cells at large, remains enigmatic. Read More