[Recent hypotheses on the mode of prion propagation in the organism]

The prion, which apparently enters the organism via the oral route, crosses the digestive barrier before progressively reaching the brain after multiplying in the lymphoid organs. Dendritic follicles as well as other immune cells appear to be involved in the transfer of prions from the lymphoid organs to the brain.

Experimental transfer trials with adoptive murine trembles showed that a fraction of the splenic cells enriched with CD11c+ cells have the highest infectious potential compared with the lymphocyte B enriched cell fraction and the total mononuclear population.

While splenic B cells do not to be able to replicate the prion, their infectious potential is probably the result of contact with dendritic follicular cells, CD11c+ dendritic cells playing an important role in neuroinvasion.