Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 25, 2026

Protein Misfolding Cyclic Amplification of Prions
Published on: November 7, 2012
Tetracyclines and prion infectivity
Gianluigi Forloni1, Mario Salmona, Gabriella Marcon
1Department of Neuroscience, Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri, Milano, Italy. forloni@marionegri.it
Abstract:
In the last decade information has accumulated on the potential anti-prion activity of polycyclic compounds. Initially we showed that the antitumoral idodoxorubicin reduced the infectivity in experimental scrapie. On the basis of the chemical homology with anthracyclines, we rapidly moved to tetracyclines, compounds that are safer and widely used as antibiotics in clinical practice. The tetracyclines, essentially doxycycline and minocycline, were characterized as a therapeutical tool in transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSE) through the cell-free condition, in cellular and animal models and they are now being investigated clinically with this indication. Tetracyclines interact with aggregates obtained by synthetic PrP peptides or pathological PrP (PrPsc) extracted from TSE brains, and they destabilize the structure of amyloid fibrils, reducing their resistance to digestion by proteinase K. Tetracyclines also interact with peptide oligomeric structures and inhibit the protein misfolding associated with PrPsc formation. These activities have been accompanied by a reduction of infectivity, verified by doxycycline treatment in experimental scrapie, and some curative effects after either peripheral or intracerebral infection. The anti-amyloidogenic activity of tetracyclines was tested in other forms of peripheral and central amyloidosis, with interesting results. This article analyzes the development of tetracyclines as a therapeutic tool in TSE in the light of recent results obtained in our laboratories.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Subviral Agents
Amyloid Fibrils
Amyloid deposits were observed as early as 1639 in the liver and the spleen. In 1854, Rudolph Virchow performed iodine staining, normally used to...
Bacterial Phylum Chlamydiae
Inhibitors of Bacterial Protein Synthesis
Fungal Phylum Microsporidia
Lysogenic Cycle of Bacteriophages

