title: The key must fit: macrophages transport prion infection to the central nervous system and may determine the sites of infection within it.
abstract: It is suggested that the agent for transmissible spongiform encephalopathies is transferred from an original peripheral site of infection into the brain by recruited and selected circulating macrophages/monocytes. It is because of this selection that strains of disease appear to be different when infecting separate species, but retain characteristics when infecting a single species.
authors.affiliation: Burnley General Hospital, UK.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dealler
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology; D001927:Brain Diseases / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000502:physiology; D008264:Macrophages / Q000502:physiology*; D051379:Mice; D008819:Mice, Nude; D017628:Microglia / Q000502:physiology*; D008954:Models, Biological; D017096:Prion Diseases / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011328:Prions / Q000378:metabolism*; D012608:Scrapie / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000635:transmission
chemical_list: D011328:Prions