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Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease (CJD) Learning Center
Causes could include:
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CJD is believed to result from a protein called a prion. A prion causes normal proteins to fold abnormally. This affects the other proteins' ability to function.
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It is clear that Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is caused by an infectious agent, but it is not yet clear what type of agent that is. Originally assumed to be a virus, evidence is accumulating that, instead, CJD is caused by a protein called a "prion,"...
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All forms of CJD are caused by the presence of a faulty protein in the brain, called prion. Prions occur in both a normal form, which is a harmless protein found in the body's cells, and in an infectious form, which causes disease. The harmless an...
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Prions are infectious proteinaceous particles or, more simply, proteins that lack nucleic acid. They were discovered by Stanley Prusiner, who received the Nobel Prize in medicine in 1997 for his work on them. Prions are biologically unique, existi...
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