title: Fundamentals of prions and their inactivation (review).
abstract: Prion is an infectious particle composed of an abnormal isoform of the prion protein (PrPSc) and causes prion diseases such as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) and scrapie. Host cells express cellular prion protein (PrPC), which plays roles in normal functions such as anti-oxidative stress. PrPSc is derived from PrPC and produced by conformational conversion. Prion is notorious as a resistant pathogen, being difficult to inactivate with conventional sterilization procedures. Therefore, to prevent prion-caused iatrogenic diseases, the use of appropriate procedures to inactivate prions is important. For examples, alcohol treatment, autoclave (121˚C, 20 min) and γ-ray irradiation, which are used for disinfection, antisepsis or sterilization of viruses and bacteria, are not effective against prion. This is a fundamental review of prions and methods of their inactivation.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Biometabolic Chemistry, School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of the Ryukyus, 207 Uehara, Nishihara, Okinawa, Japan. sakudo@med.u-ryukyu.ac.jp
authors.forename: Akikazu
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sakudo
authors.forename: Yasuhisa
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ano
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Onodera
authors.forename: Kayako
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nitta
authors.forename: Hideharu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shintani
authors.forename: Kazuyoshi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ikuta
authors.forename: Yasuharu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tanaka
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D007049:Iatrogenic Disease; D017053:Infection Control; D017096:Prion Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D011328:Prions / Q000378:metabolism / Q000472:pathogenicity / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D011328:Prions