Advancing Prion Science

In Advancing Prion Science, the Institute of Medicine''s Committee on TransmissibleSpongiform Encephalopathies Assessment of Relevant Science recommends prioritiesfor research and investment to the Department of Defense''s National Prion ResearchProgram (NPRP). Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs), also called priondiseases, are invariably fatal neurodegenerative infectious diseases that includebovine spongiform encephalopathy (commonly called mad cow disease), chronicwasting disease, scrapie, and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. To develop antemortemdiagnostics or therapies for TSEs, the committee concludes that NPRP should investin basic research specifically to elucidate the structural features of prions, the molecularmechanisms of prion replication, the mechanisms of TSE pathogenesis, and thephysiological function of prions'' normal cellular isoform. Advancing Prion Science providesthe first comprehensive reference on present knowledge about all aspects ofTSEs—from basic science to the U.S. research infrastructure, from diagnostics to surveillance,and from prevention to treatment.