IT MIGHT one day be possible to slow the progress of prion diseases—by
adding yet more prions. Researchers at the University of California, Davis, say
their computer model supports the controversial theory that you could treat such
diseases with a dose of normal prions from another species.
“It is an elegant mathematical model, one that suggests a route to therapy,
and one that is supported by considerable biological evidence,” says Mike Scott,
a prion researcher at the University of California, San Francisco. “But there
are some major hurdles that must be overcome before we know whether this
approach will…
