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Internationally recognized investigators review the latest developments in, and novel approaches to, understanding the prion protein and prion diseases at the molecular level. Utilizing a variety of cutting-edge techniques, these distinguished scientists seek to define the normal function of a prion protein, to detect and measure the early immune response to prion disease, and to discover possible therapeutic targets. They also use transgenic mice and new electrophysiological investigations to elucidate the pathogenetic mechanisms involved in prion diseases. State-of-the-art and richly insightful, Molecular Pathology of the Prions captures for basic and clinical neuropathologists the latest developments and approaches to understanding the pathogenesis of prion diseases, and by analogy suggests possible research techniques for the more common proteinopthies, such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases.
E-Book Content
M E T H O D S I N M O L E C U L A R M E D I C I N E TM
Molecular Pathology of the Prions Edited by
Harry F. Baker
Humana Press
What Would Huxley Make of Prion Diseases?
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1 What Would Thomas Henry Huxley Have Made of Prion Diseases? Rosalind M. Ridley
1. Introduction “Science is nothing but trained and organized common sense, differing from the latter only as a veteran may differ from a raw recruit.” a Prion disease is a disease of the second half of the twentieth century, but the scientific method that has elucidated this fascinating group of diseases is much older. As an illustration of this, this chapter considers the way in which a nineteenth century scientist might have reacted to the challenge that prion disease has presented. T. H. Huxley (1825–1895) was an ardent naturalist, who traveled around the world collecting specimens, and who peered down the microscope (1). He amassed vast amounts of