Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Site Tools

  • AAAS
  • Subscribe
  • Feedback

Site Search

Search Advanced

Science 19 December 1997:
Vol. 278. no. 5346, p. 2050
DOI: 10.1126/science.278.5346.2050
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

News & Comment

NEURODEGENERATIVE DISEASE:
B Cells May Propagate Prions

Gretchen Vogel

The uncertainty about what causes "mad cow disease" and related neurodegenerative conditions hasn't kept researchers from wondering how the agents that cause these diseases spread from the site of infection to the brain. New work now suggests that B cells, a type of immune cell carried in the blood, play an important role in this propagation. In this week's issue of Nature, a research team reports that mice lacking B cells are resistant to infection with scrapie, a sheep condition similar to mad cow disease, when they are inoculated with infectious material in areas outside the brain. If B cells are necessary for the disease to propagate, the authors reason, they may also carry the infectious agent.

Read the Full Text

ADVERTISEMENT
Click Me!

ADVERTISEMENT
Click Me!

To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)