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/sci/ - Science & Math

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3906456 No.3906456 [Reply] [Original]

why arn't we constantly afflicted by prion-based disorders?

it's not a bacteria, virus, or fungus, so how can an animal launch an immune response against it?

>> No.3906526

Maybe only through being picked up as a strange entity by the immune system, it wouldn't respond as a defense but maybe as a probe.

Only hope against prions at the moment is a body disorder, weirdly.
Some test has proven cancer being able to "aquire" prions.

>> No.3906524

You have to intake prions to get prion disorders.

However, if you consume too much of certain things, especially brains (human brains are even worse) then prions build up and you get Kuru.

>> No.3906529

Why SHOULD we be constantly afflicted by prion-based disorders? They only "replicate" when exposed to the normal-conformation protein.

>> No.3906541

>>3906526
so, the immune response has to happen on a species level? i.e. if your body is compatible with this prion, and there is an outbreak, you are a evolutionary dead end.

>> No.3906547

N #2 anon here again,

Let's change OP's question to should the community be worried about prions ?

Yes or No (and to what degree if yes)
Discuss

>> No.3906580

>>3906541
Your comment has pointed out something remarkable, could this truly be ?

But then again if any disease is compatible, you're always a dead end (in an evolutionary stand point) to THAT disease.

In this diverse genetic world, you'll never know maybe these prions will kill of a certain compatible strain (Meaning humans).

Erase my earlier comment of changing OP's question this will be interesting.

>> No.3906607

>>3906547
I vote Yes.
Transmission is easy. Detection is difficult. Incubation can be decades before it manifests.

>> No.3906642

following with interest.

>> No.3906649

>>3906607
Your argument is quite sound, but then again at THIS point detection is difficult.

But looking at the average increase in bother computing power as over intelligence of scientific community with the bouncing back of ideas.

i'd wager the only real problems is that the prions will become the cancer of the future.
Eventually detectable but ages away from a cure of means of solid prevention at this point of course.

The above does not imply anything about the status of cancer research or any possible thing about it.

>> No.3906964

>>3906649
My problem is: Are human rates low because it's new to humans? Or are they low because we're lucky and sanitary? Or are they low because it's growing undetected? For all we know, it could be widespread. A piece of tainted meat we ate 20 years ago might kill us tomorrow.

>> No.3907118

How do we get prion diseases? Consuming them, right?

If we can avoid prion-filled foods, we can reduce the risk. Easy.

>> No.3907152
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3907152

>>3906964
>Are human rates low because it's new to humans?

>> No.3907179

>>3907152
vCJD came from eating mad cows, not human flesh like Kuru. The cows became mad from being fed meat (cows don't eat meat).

>> No.3907265

>>3907179
specifically, the bits of meat that couldn't be fed to humans got ground up and fed to the cows.

Cannibalism causes prion diseases.

>> No.3907266

>>3907179
>humans get CJD from eating cow
>cows get CJD from eating meat
>meat gets CJD from ????
Where do the prion proteins come from originally? Protein transcription errors?

Just saying, things like peanuts contain proteins. A whole crop of peanuts could be made from one genetic template. If that genetic template programmed for a prion that took years to manifest, seems like lots of people could eat the prions without it being known. Or are plant derived incomplete proteins incredibly unlikely to produce prions that would effect animal tissue?

>> No.3907355

>>3907266
Cow meat was fed to cows. For whatever reason, the cows didn't properly handle the cow proteins and they became prions. Since cow meat was still being fed to cows, the prions kept building more and more of themselves.

When the cow meat was eaten by humans, the prions entered our systems. Repeat cycle.

Cannibalism: Don't do it.

>> No.3907403

>>3907179
>cows don't eat meat

Idort detected.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9vxHN8_jSE

>> No.3907446

>>3907355
It was probably meat byproducts from sheeps and goats that had Scrapie disease.
Scrapie -> BSE -> CJD

It's not cannabalism, it's eating any brains.

>> No.3907471

Just to be clear, prions are malformed proteins that are capable of changing normal-conformation proteins of the same kind into the malformed prions.

That's why it's transmitted through food, and then generally in foods that have proteins in common with you (cows from other cows or sheep, transmitted to humans through food, etc). You're not likely to get a prion disease from a plant.

Not to mention that proteins generally get denatured and broken up in the stomach.

>> No.3907495

>>3907403
No they don't, but industrial feed contains recycled cowmeal. It's the same with chickens and goats.

That's why beef that's been grassfed are such a big deal. It's healthier for you and the cows.

>> No.3907509

>>3907471
>Not to mention that proteins generally get denatured and broken up in the stomach

This is mostly true. However there are some exception such as the BPS and CJD variants are highly resistant to denaturing, except under intense pressures and temperatures. It's a good thing the proteins in questions are only present in brain and spinal chord tissue, which for the most part aren't sold on the US market and not processed with regular meat.

>> No.3907527
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3907527

Proteins are readily hydrolyzed in the stomach to yield their component amino acids. Prions only work in their intact state.

Mad cow disease and other prion diseases which have appeared in mammals are caused by persistent exposure to prions, or at least getting enough prion through digestion to start the protein misfolding.

>> No.3907533

UBIQUITINATION

Misfolded, unneeded, or otherwise unwanted proteins are ubiquitinated and subsequently destroyed. There are rare cases where these proteins evade the ubiquitination mechanism, but these are rare, and I'm not aware of disorder in humans caused by the human ubiqutination mechanism failing. People thought for a while that that may be the cause of neurological disorders like parkinson's or alzheimer's, but that seems less likely now.

The biochemical pathways in our bodies are amazing, beautiful - the greatest poetry ever written.

>> No.3907548
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3907548

>>3907533
>The biochemical pathways in our bodies are amazing, beautiful - the greatest poetry ever written.

Don't confine it to humans.

>> No.3907553

>>3907533
>The biochemical pathways in our bodies are amazing, beautiful - the greatest poetry ever written.
I'd rather say that they are incredibly convoluted and yet pretty adaptive and robust.

It's not like they're shining examples of engineering that brook no improvement. But yes, life is amazing.

>> No.3907579

>>3907553

No? Could you do better? This is unbelievable engineering. Do you think that with all our technology, we could really reconstruct an entire human from scratch, working and functioning? That's still far, far beyond us now. The fact that this unbelievable feat of engineering has been made without any intelligence guiding it, solely by electromagnetism and other basic principles, is mind-boggling. I've been working in this field for a long time now, and I still can't bring myself to accept that this is really truth. It's just too unbelievable - my mind can't accept that this is possible.