prions and immune response

[Ian A. York]

In article <Pine.SOL.3.91.950520202417.1834A-100000 at asrr.arsusda.gov> tdiener at ASRR.ARSUSDA.GOV (ncel) writes:

>Good question! It has been an old enigma why none of the prion diseases 
>elicit an immune response from their hosts (or fever for that matter). 

Am I correct in recalling that the prion protein is highly resistant to 
proteases?  If so, since T cells respond to proteolytic fragments, 
perhaps there's no opportunity to go through the antigen presentation 
route.  

Ian

-- 
Ian York   (york at mbcrr.harvard.edu)
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, 44 Binney St., Boston MA 02115
Phone (617)-632-3921     Fax  (617)-632-2627