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From cell protection to death: May Ca2+ signals explain the chameleonic attributes of the mammalian prion protein?
- Source :
-
Biochemical & Biophysical Research Communications . Feb2009, Vol. 379 Issue 2, p171-174. 4p. - Publication Year :
- 2009
-
Abstract
- Abstract: It is now accepted that a conformational change of the cellular prion protein (PrPC) generates the prion, the infectious agent responsible for lethal neurodegenerative disorders, named transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, or prion diseases. The mechanisms of prion-associated neurodegeneration are still obscure, as is the cell role of PrPC, although increasing evidence attributes to PrPC important functions in cell survival. Such a behavioral dichotomy thus enables the prion protein to switch from a benign role under normal conditions, to the execution of neurons during disease. By reviewing data from models of prion disease and PrPC-null paradigms, which suggest a relation between the prion protein and Ca2+ homeostasis, here we discuss the possibility that Ca2+ is the factor behind the enigma of the pathophysiology of PrPC. Ca2+ features in almost all processes of cell signaling, and may thus tell us much about a protein that pivots between health and disease. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 0006291X
- Volume :
- 379
- Issue :
- 2
- Database :
- Academic Search Index
- Journal :
- Biochemical & Biophysical Research Communications
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 36139428
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbrc.2008.12.026