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Updated: Dec 18, 2025

Isolation, Propagation, and Prion Protein Expression During Neuronal Differentiation of Human Dental Pulp Stem Cells
Published on: March 18, 2019
Prion Protein in Stem Cells: A Lipid Raft Component Involved in the Cellular Differentiation Process
Stefano Martellucci1,2, Costantino Santacroce2, Francesca Santilli2,3
1Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences, University of L'Aquila, 67100 L'Aquila, Italy.
Abstract:
The prion protein (PrP) is an enigmatic molecule with a pleiotropic effect on different cell types; it is localized stably in lipid raft microdomains and it is able to recruit downstream signal transduction pathways by its interaction with various biochemical partners. Since its discovery, this lipid raft component has been involved in several functions, although most of the publications focused on the pathological role of the protein. Recent studies report a key role of cellular prion protein (PrPC) in physiological processes, including cellular differentiation. Indeed, the PrPC, whose expression is modulated according to the cell differentiation degree, appears to be part of the multimolecular signaling pathways of the neuronal differentiation process. In this review, we aim to summarize the main findings that report the link between PrPC and stem cells.
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