title: Prion and prion-like diseases in animals.
abstract: Transmissible spongiform encephalopaties (TSEs) are fatal neurodegenerative diseases characterized by the aggregation and accumulation of the misfolded prion protein in the brain. Other proteins such as β-amyloid, tau or Serum Amyloid-A (SAA) seem to share with prions some aspects of their pathogenic mechanism; causing a variety of so called prion-like diseases in humans and/or animals such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Huntington's, Type II diabetes mellitus or amyloidosis. The question remains whether these misfolding proteins have the ability to self-propagate and transmit in a similar manner to prions. In this review, we describe the prion and prion-like diseases affecting animals as well as the recent findings suggesting the prion-like transmissibility of certain non-prion proteins.
authors.affiliation: Centro de Investigación en Sanidad Animal (CISA-INIA), 28130 Valdeolmos, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Aguilar-Calvo
authors.affiliation: Centro de Investigación en Sanidad Animal (CISA-INIA), 28130 Valdeolmos, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Consolación
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: García
authors.affiliation: Centro de Investigación en Sanidad Animal (CISA-INIA), 28130 Valdeolmos, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Juan Carlos
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Espinosa
authors.affiliation: INRA, UMR 1225, Interactions Hôtes Agents Pathogènes, École Nationale Vétérinaire de Toulouse, 23 chemin des Capelles, 31076 Toulouse Cedex, France.
authors.forename: Olivier
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Andreoletti
authors.affiliation: Centro de Investigación en Sanidad Animal (CISA-INIA), 28130 Valdeolmos, Madrid, Spain. Electronic address: jmtorres@inia.es.
authors.forename: Juan María
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Torres
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002415:Cats; D002417:Cattle; D008907:Mink; D017096:Prion Diseases / Q000378:metabolism / Q000635:transmission / Q000662:veterinary*; D011328:Prions / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D012756:Sheep
chemical_list: D011328:Prions
keywords: Amyloid; Amyloidosis; Prion; Prion-like transmission; Protein misfolding; Protein self-templating