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Updated: Nov 28, 2025

Monitoring Cell-to-cell Transmission of Prion-like Protein Aggregates in Drosophila Melanogaster
Published on: March 12, 2018
Understanding and exploiting interactions between cellular proteostasis pathways and infectious prion proteins for
Unekwu M Yakubu1,2, Celso S G Catumbela2,3, Rodrigo Morales3,4
1Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, McGovern Medical School at UTHealth, Houston, TX USA.
Abstract:
Several neurodegenerative diseases of humans and animals are caused by the misfolded prion protein (PrPSc), a self-propagating protein infectious agent that aggregates into oligomeric, fibrillar structures and leads to cell death by incompletely understood mechanisms. Work in multiple biological model systems, from simple baker's yeast to transgenic mouse lines, as well as in vitro studies, has illuminated molecular and cellular modifiers of prion disease. In this review, we focus on intersections between PrP and the proteostasis network, including unfolded protein stress response pathways and roles played by the powerful regulators of protein folding known as protein chaperones. We close with analysis of promising therapeutic avenues for treatment enabled by these studies.
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