从羊瘙痒症到疯牛病——朊病毒发现史

从1730年人们发现羊瘙痒症开始,克-雅氏症、库鲁病、疯牛病等一系列疾病随之出现.在库鲁病的研究中,美国科学家盖达塞克发现其病原体不具有DNA或RNA特性,并因此获得了1976年的诺贝尔生理学医学奖.其后,另一位美国科学家普鲁塞纳在进一步研究中,发现了以蛋白质为遗传媒介的新型病毒--朊病毒,并因此获得了1997年诺贝尔生理学医学奖.朊病毒的发现是生命科学研究中的重大事件,为人类战胜羊瘙痒症、克-雅氏症、库鲁病和疯牛病等一系列疾病奠定了理论基础.

From the Scrapie Syndrome of sheep and goats to the mad cow disease-the history of the discovery of prion

Since the discovery of Scrapie Syndrome in sheep and goats in 1730, there emerged a series of diseases such as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, kuru disease and mad cow disease etc. In the research of kuru disease, the American scientist D. Carlteton Gajdusek found a new virus without the characteristic of DNA and RNA, which was awarded the Nobel Prize in physiology in 1976. Since then another American sci-entist, Stanley B. Prusiner, found a new virus-prion, taking protein as the genetic medium, which was awar-ded the Nobel prize in physiology and medicine in 1997. The discovery of prion is a great landmark in the re-search of life science, which laid a theoretical foundation for people to conquer n series of diseases such as Scrapie syndrome in sheep and goats, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, kuru disease and mad cow disease etc.