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Updated: May 11, 2026

Monitoring Cell-to-cell Transmission of Prion-like Protein Aggregates in Drosophila Melanogaster
Published on: March 12, 2018
[Infectious properties of protein aggregates involved in neurodegenerative diseases]
1Laboratoire d'Enzymologie et Biochimie Structurale, CNRS, Avenue de la Terrasse, 91198 Gif-sur-Yvette, France.
Abstract:
Several progressive neurodegenerative disorders, e.g. Alzheimer, Parkinson and Huntington diseases, cerebro-spinal ataxia and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, are the consequence of protein misfolding and aggregation. Recent data indicates that some of these diseases are not cell autonomous as previously thought. We and others have shown that protein assemblies involved in the aforementioned diseases propagate from cell to cell in a manner akin prion high molecular weight assemblies propagation in Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease. The mechanism of propagation and amplification of protein assemblies involved in neurodegenerative diseases and its physiopathological consequences are discussed hereafter.
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