1. Prions “Scrapie” “mad cow disease” Nobel Prize 1997
Dr. Stanley Prusiner

2. Prions What are prions? What is the evidence for prions?
Notable prion diseases
Modes of obtaining “prion” diseases

3. Infectious pathogens resistant to:

4. From: S. Prusiner, 1998: Nobel Laureate for Prions
Once the requirement of protein for infectivity was established, I thought that it was appropriate to give the infectious pathogen of scrapie a provisional name that would distinguish it from both viruses and viroids. After some contemplation, I suggested the term "prion," derived from proteinaceous and infectious (58). At that time, I defined prions as proteinaceous infectious particles that resist inactivation by procedures that modify nucleic acids. I never imagined the irate reaction of some scientists to the word "prion"   it was truly remarkable!

5. Prion Diseases Can have very long incubation periods
Present at approximately years of age
Invariably fatal in a matter of months

6. Prions have been linked to various related neurological diseases
Dr. Carleton Gajdusek
Kuru: human
Fatal Familial Insomnia: human
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (human)
Kuru
New Guinea
Brain tissue

7. Prion Diseases in Animals
Scrapie (goats, sheep)
BSE or Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (cattle)
Chronic Wasting Disease (deer, elk)

8. Creutzfeld Jakob
Scrapie
BSE
KURU

9. Normal Mammalian Cells Have a: PrP gene
Perhaps functions in cell communication
PrP protein

10. Prion diseases happen as a result of modified PrP

11. The modified PrP forms “rods” and destroys nerve cells.
“Holes in the tissues are where the
Nerve cells have been destroyed”.

12. Proteins that replicate
PrP
Rod shape
structures

13. Various strains of prions

14. Prion diseases may present as:
Genetic
Sporadic
Infectious
PrP
And many other manners of contact
with infected tissue.

15. Treatment Currently no available treatment Future drugs may target
Binding of modified PrP to wt Prp

16. Onto HIV/AIDS