I never heard of that before, but from a quick research, they are suspected in neurodegeneratives disease but not MS?
perhaps depends if ms has a neurodegenerative component. not sure if the studies are conclusive yet at this stage.
Nothing about prions or proteins in this paper, JL...
yea i'm guilty of not actually having read it, just getting the gist, and was more going for thoughts on how the prion concept might possibly link up with both the neurodegenerative and immune angles. this abstract looks related/interesting, there's more abstract available at the link below.
Inflammatory Mediators Leading to Protein-Misfolding and Uncompetitive/Fast Off‐Rate Drug Therapy for Neurodegenerative Disorders
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/ar ... 4207820010
Inflammatory mediators, including free radicals such as nitric oxide (NO) and reactive oxygen species (ROS), can contribute to neurodegenerative diseases in part by triggering protein misfolding. In this chapter, we will discuss a newly discovered pathway for this phenomenon and possible novel treatments. Excitotoxicity, defined as overstimulation of glutamate receptors, has been implicated in a final common pathway contributing to neuronal injury and death in a wide range of acute and chronic neurological disorders, ranging from Parkinson's disease (PD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), multiple sclerosis, and Alzheimer's disease (AD) to stroke and trauma. Excitotoxic cell death is due, at least in part, to excessive activation of N‐methyl‐d‐aspartate (NMDA)‐type glutamate receptors, leading to excessive Ca2+ influx through the receptor's associated ion channel and subsequent free radical production, including NO and ROS. These free radicals can trigger a variety of injurious pathways, but newly discovered evidence suggests that some proteins are S‐nitrosylated (transfer of NO to a critical thiol group), and this reaction can mimic the effect of rare genetic mutations. This posttranslational modification can contribute to proteinmisfolding, triggering neurodegenerative diseases...
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