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Medical Biochemistry Commons

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Full-Text Articles in Medical Biochemistry

Formation Of Native Prions From Minimal Components In Vitro, Nathan R. Deleault, Brent T. Harris, Judy R. Rees, Surachai Supattapone Jun 2007

Formation Of Native Prions From Minimal Components In Vitro, Nathan R. Deleault, Brent T. Harris, Judy R. Rees, Surachai Supattapone

Dartmouth Scholarship

The conformational change of a host protein, PrPC, into a disease-associated isoform, PrPSc, appears to play a critical role in the pathogenesis of prion diseases such as Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease and scrapie. However, the fundamental mechanism by which infectious prions are produced in neurons remains unknown. To investigate the mechanism of prion formation biochemically, we conducted a series of experiments using the protein misfolding cyclic amplification (PMCA) technique with a preparation containing only native PrPC and copurified lipid molecules. These experiments showed that successful PMCA propagation of PrPScmolecules in a purified system requires accessory polyanion molecules. In addition, we found that …


Fibril In Senile Systemic Amyloidosis Is Derived From Normal Transthyretin., Per Westermark, Knut Sletten, Bjorn Johansson, Gibbons G. Cornwell Apr 1990

Fibril In Senile Systemic Amyloidosis Is Derived From Normal Transthyretin., Per Westermark, Knut Sletten, Bjorn Johansson, Gibbons G. Cornwell

Dartmouth Scholarship

The amyloid fibril in senile systemic amyloidosis (SSA), like that of familial amyloidotic polyneuropathy, is derived from transthyretin (TTR). SSA, however, is a common disease, affecting to some degree 25% of the population greater than 80 years old. In familial amyloidotic polyneuropathy, the amyloidogenesis has been considered to depend on point mutations leading to TTR variants. We show that the TTR molecule in SSA, on the other hand, has a normal primary structure. Factors other than the primary structure of TTR must therefore be important in the pathogenesis of TTR-derived amyloid.