Dynamics of Prion Proliferation Under Combined Treatment of Pharmacological Chaperones and Interferons
Abstract:
Diseases such as mad cow disease in bovines, chronic wasting disease in cervids, and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans are incurable illnesses caused by prions. Prion diseases are caused when the prion protein PrPC misfolds into PrPSc, which is capable of inducing further misfolding in healthy PrPC proteins. Recent in vivo experimental results have shown that pharmacological chaperone treatment can be used to prevent this conversion, where the pharmacological chaperones act as a short-term “vaccine" against the PrPSc proteins. A second strategic approach uses interferons to decrease the concentration of PrPSc. In this work, a model using a non-linear system of ordinary di-erential equations is constructed to model how these two treatments slow the proliferation of prions in the brain. Through this work it was found that interferons have a greater e˙ect on the prion population over time, but that the pharmacological chaperones begin to e˙ect the system earlier. This information can guide future prion experiments and inform potential treatment protocols.
Year: 2019
Authors
Yair Castillo - University of Colima
Nora Culik - Vassar College
Leah Darwin - Arizona State University
Domenica Garzon - Yachay Tech University
Abigail Hardin - University of Oklahoma
Anji Yang - University of Shanghai
Gabriela Navas - Arizona State University
Aditi Ghosh - University of Wisconsin
Carlos Castillo-Garsow - Eastern Washington University
Leon Arriola - University of Wisconsin
Karen Rios-Soto - University of Puerto Rico
