So, we’ve been learning about the prion protein for a while now but this entire time we’ve ended conversations with “but there is not cure” which is pretty sad because people who contract prion diseases are suffering terrible deaths. They die -completely aware- trapped inside their incapacitated bodies. What could be worse?
It’s like being buried alive, right?
But science might have an answer. Professor of Neuropathology at the University of Zurich and University Hospital Zurich, Adriano Aguzzi has been studying the prion protein and he and his team believe they have figured out the nature, at least, of the prion protein and perhaps the cause of its toxicity. While prion proteins are usually harmless and can be found in our brain’s cell membrane, when a prion protein is touched by a foreign molecule on its tail, the protein goes nuts and becomes toxic. Aguzzi believes the protein has a switch and when triggered, the tail, a separate part from the globular head, causes the prion protein to become deformed and clumped which ultimately leads to cell death. Aguzzi suggests only those antibodies that attack the tail of the prion protein are suitable as potential drugs for combating the disease, which seems like a great start to curing the disease.
This is a really interesting lead, I wonder if another potential cure could be in targeting the dead cells who are touched by the protein.
This is an interesting lead, I wonder if another possible cure could be in targeting the dead cell that was touched by the protein.