• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제17권7호
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• pp.1059-1070
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• 2007

Prion diseases, often called transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs), are infectious diseases that accompany neurological dysfunctions in many mammalian hosts. Prion diseases include Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) in humans, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, "mad cow disease") in cattle, scrapie in sheep, and chronic wasting disease (CWD) in deer and elks. The cause of these fatal diseases is a proteinaceous pathogen termed prion that lacks functional nucleic acids. As demonstrated in the BSE outbreak and its transmission to humans, the onset of disease is not limited to a certain species but can be transmissible from one host species to another. Such a striking nature of prions has generated huge concerns in public health and attracted serious attention in the scientific communities. To date, the potential transmission of prions to humans via foodborne infection and iatrogenic routes has not been alleviated. Rather, the possible transmission of human to human or cervids to human aggravates the terrifying situation across the globe. In this review, basic features about prion diseases including clinical and pathological characteristics, etiology, and transmission of diseases are described. Based on recently accumulated evidences, the molecular and biochemical aspects of prions, with an emphasis on the molecular interactions involved in prion conversion that is critical during prion replication and pathogenesis, are also addressed.

• 한국수산과학회지
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• 제47권4호
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• pp.341-346
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• 2014

Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs), also termed prion diseases, are a threat to food safety and to human and animal health. Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) in humans is caused by the consumption of meat contaminated with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, mad cow disease). The BSE epidemic in the United Kingdom was shown to be related with the extensive use of BSE-contaminated meat-and-bone meal (MBM) and bovine offal. Many countries worldwide use MBM, as well as meat from cows, for aquaculture feed. This raises concerns about the safety of farmed fish, a major protein source for humans. The present work reviews recent studies on fish prion protein and the transmissibility of mammalian prion agents to fish, providing insights into the future direction of fish prion research.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제26권9호
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• pp.1657-1660
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• 2016

Prion diseases are incurable neurodegenerative disorders. Our previous study demonstrated that polylysine was effective in prolonging the incubation period in a rodent model and in alleviating the scrapie prion protein (PrP^Sc) burden in the brain at the terminal stage of the disease. Here, we report that intraperitoneal administration of polylysine suppresses the accumulation of prions in the spleen during the early stages of the disease. This study supports the congruence of PrP^Sc inhibition by polylysine in both the spleen and brain.

• BMB Reports
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• 제40권5호
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• pp.662-669
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• 2007

Although the function of cellular prion protein (PrP$^C$) and the pathogenesis of prion diseases have been widely described, the mechanisms are not fully clarified. In this study, increases of the portion of non-glycosylated prion protein deposited in the hamster brains infected with scrapie strain 263K were described. To elucidate the pathological role of glycosylation profile of PrP, wild type human PrP (HuPrP) and two genetic engineering generated non-glycosylated PrP mutants (N181Q/N197Q and T183A/T199A) were transiently expressed in human astrocytoma cell line SF126. The results revealed that expressions of non-glycosylated PrP induced significantly more apoptosis cells than that of wild type PrP. It illustrated that Bcl-2 proteins might be involved in the apoptosis pathway of non-glycosylated PrPs. Our data highlights that removal of glycosylation of prion protein provokes cells apoptosis.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• 제32권10호
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• pp.3553-3554
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• 2011

• BMB Reports
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• 제56권12호
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• pp.645-650
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• 2023

Numerous studies have investigated the cellular prion protein (PrP^C) since its discovery. These investigations have explained that its structure is predominantly composed of alpha helices and short beta sheet segments, and when its abnormal scrapie isoform (PrPSc) is infected, PrPSc transforms the PrP^C, leading to prion diseases, including Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans and bovine spongiform encephalopathy in cattle. Given its ubiquitous distribution across a variety of cellular types, the PrP^C manifests a diverse range of biological functions, including cell-cell adhesion, neuroprotection, signalings, and oxidative stress response. PrP^C is also expressed in immune tissues, and its functions in these tissues include the activation of immune cells and the formation of secondary lymphoid tissues, such as the spleen and lymph nodes. Moreover, high expression of PrP^C in immune cells plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of prion diseases. In addition, it affects inflammation and the development and progression of cancer via various mechanisms. In this review, we discuss the studies on the role of PrP^C from various immunological perspectives.

• 공업화학
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• 제20권6호
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• pp.628-631
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• 2009

최근 광우병 파동과 프리온 단백질의 전염으로 인하여 발생되는 것으로 알려진 크로이츠펠트 야콥병에 대하여 폭넓게 연구되면서 생화학계에서 프리온 단백질에 대한 관심은 상당하다. 본 연구에서는 프리온 단백질의 일부분인 PrP 106-126의 마이크로 몰농도 단위의 정량분석을 실시하였다. 본 연구에서 플로래스카민은 일차 아민과 반응하여 형광을 띠는 물질로써, 알파이미저는 형광의 세기를 측정하는 기기로써 사용되었다. 따라서 합성된 PrP 106-126으로 플로래스카민과 알파이미저를 이용하여 마이크로 몰농도단위의 정량 분석을 위한 조건을 정립하였으며 이를 통하여 표준곡선을 얻을 수 있었다. 이 방법은 차후 변형 프리온 단백질에 대한 응집저해제 및 의약품 연구에 큰 기여를 할 것이다.

• BMB Reports
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• 제42권7호
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• pp.444-449
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• 2009

Different neurodegenerative disorders like prion disease, is caused by protein misfolding conformers. Reverse-transfected cytosolic prion protein (PrP) and PrP expressed in the cytosol have been shown to be neurotoxic. To investigate the possible mechanism of neurotoxicity due to accumulation of PrP in cytosol, a PrP mutant lacking the signal and GPI (CytoPrP) was introduced into the SH-SY5Y cell. MTT and trypan blue assays indicated that the viability of cells expressing CytoPrP was remarkably reduced after treatment of MG-132. Obvious apoptosis phenomena were detected in the cells accumulated with CytoPrP, including loss of mitochondrial transmembrane potential, increase of caspase-3 activity, more annexin V/PI-double positive-stained cells and reduced Bcl-2 level. Moreover, DNA fragmentation and TUNEL assays also revealed clear evidences of late apoptosis in the cells accumulated CytoPrP. These data suggest that the accumulation of CytoPrP in cytoplasm may trigger cell apoptosis, in which mitochondrial relative apoptosis pathway seems to play critical role.

• EDISON SW 활용 경진대회 논문집
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• 제6회(2017년)
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• pp.32-38
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• 2017

Prion is a group of the proteins known for its infection mechanisms of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) and other diseases. Solved structures and proven biological roles of fungal prions add tremendous potential to conducting computational simulations. Our research focuses on the binding dynamics of HET-s(218-289), one of the heterokaryon fungal prion originated from Podospora anserina, by calculating the binding free energy using umbrella sampling at 300 K. The binding free energy calculated was $-54.5kcal\;mol^{-1}$, relatively similar to the binding energy of other amyloid fibrils. The simulation result suggests the thermodynamic properties of ${\beta}$-solenoid of HET-s prion and its similarity in dissociation pathways compared to amyloids.

• 한국미생물·생명공학회지
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• 제43권2호
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• pp.91-96
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• 2015

Prion은 양의 scrapie, 소의 bovine spongiform encephalopathy와 사람의 CJD와 같은 다양한 신경 퇴행성 질환을 유발시키는 단백질 병원체이다. 정상 prion 단백질인 PrP^C가 병원성 PrP^Sc로 바뀌는 과정에 대해서는 많은 연구가 진행되었고, PrP^Sc로의 단백질 구조 변화가 다양한 환경적 요소에 의해서 영향 받는 것으로 추측된다. 바다조류로부터 분리된 MAAs는 다양한 스트레스 환경에서 조류를 보호해주는 것으로 알려져 있다. 이와 같은 사실에 기초하여 mycosporineglycine, porphyra-334와 shinorine 3종의 MAAs로 처리한 prion 감염 신경세포 주에서 prion 단백질 축적의 변화를 평가하였다. PK 저항성을 갖는 PrP^Sc를 western blot 방법으로 확인한 결과, MAA에 의해서 PrP^Sc 단백질의 증식을 관찰하였다.