Source: New Scientist
Posted: 22:00 30 January 2006
Summary:
The curative properties of stem cells may rely on prions, a special class of protein that can change the shape and function of other proteins around them, a new study suggests, the type of protein made infamous by mad cow disease. Prions are a special class of protein that can change the shape and function of other proteins around them. While these are found throughout any mammal’s body, the understanding of their biological role is limited. What is known is that prions that become misshapen, through some unknown process, can result in BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) – mad cow disease – and its equivalents in other animals. Researchers at the Whitehead Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US, have now found that adult stem cells in bone marrow gradually lose their ability to regenerate without their normal complement of membrane-bound prions.
