Prion vaccine

2003/07/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Medikuntza

At the University of Toronto they have developed a weapon that seems effective against diseases caused by prions. According to the researchers, the weapon will serve as a vaccine, treatment and diagnosis tool.

Prions, when they adopt a wrong form, produce diseases and, in addition, are able to transform normal prions. Otherwise, they are very similar to normal prions and immune systems are not detected as strangers. Consequently, they accumulate and cause diseases such as mad cows. At the University of Toronto, the differences between prions and normal ones have been analyzed in search of differences to detect immune systems, finding at least one.

The transformed carry a special sequence of three amino acids on the surface and the immune system is able to detect this sequence and attack the modified prions. This sequence has also been detected in all species studied: in humans, cows, mice, hamsters, sheep and elk. Researchers have been able to produce antibodies against this sequence in the tissues of all previous species and now want to immunize a mouse.