What are prions and why are they so hard to kill ?
In: Biology
Prions are protons which are folded wrong and which will cause other similar proteins to also get folded the same way. This can happen spontaniously but this is extremely rare. However the most likely source of prion diseases is from others who are infected. There are a lot of proteins which are shared between different creatures, at least close enough. So a number of prion diseases can spread between different animal species. When a prion disease does infect someone it does not usually cause harm by itself but it does prevent the protein from doing its intended job which can be deadly. The problem with prions is that it is not actually anything foreign as the proteins that cause the disease are made by your own cells according to your own genes. A lot of the immune systems defenses are aimed at preventing foreign intruders but prions are not foreign in the same way. So the immune system will not act on prions.
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