免疫治疗朊病的前景

神经元的死亡被认为是朊病的特点，这是由于细胞表面的唾液酸糖蛋白由正常的含有大量α螺旋的结构变成了异常的β折叠丰富的、具有蛋白酶抗性的结构。最近的研究结果表明，朊病的复制可以被抗PrP的单克隆抗体所抑制，能延长朊病毒的潜伏期，这增加了人们用抗体来治疗朊病的信心。

Therapeutic for Prion Diseases with Immunology

Neuronal cell death is considered to be a hallmark in prion diseases.These disorders are believed to result from the post-translational conversionof a normal cell membrane sialoglycoprotein,composed primarily of helical structure,into a disease specific isoform,that is rich in sheet and partially proteinase-resistant.Recent in vivo studies indicate that prion replication can be inhibited by anti-PrP monoclonal antibodies that led to the indefinite delay in the development of prion disease.Furthermore,these reports increased momentum about the use of antibody-based therapy in prion diseases.