prion

Introduction

A small infectious proteinaceous particle, resistant to nucleases, implicated as the etiologic agent of spongiform encephalopathies, including:

• kuru
• Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
• Gerstmann-Straussler-Scheinker syndrome
• fatal familial insomnia
• chronic wasting disease in deer In 1997, Stanley Pruisner received the Nobel Prize in Physiology & Medicine for the disovery of prions. The term prion was coined by Pruisner for proteinaceous infectious particle. Prions may be identical to the prion protein itself, or may contains additional components.

More general terms

• organism

Additional terms

• CD230 or major prion protein (PrP)
• transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (prion disease)