The<unk>  technology has been used by several groups to understand the molecular mechanism of prion replication, the nature of the infectious agent, the phenomenon of prion strains and species barrier, the effect of cellular components, to detect PrPSc in tissues and biological fluids and to screen for inhibitors against prion replication. Recent studies by the groups of Supattapone and Ma were able to produce prion replication in vitro by<unk>  using purified PrPC and recombinant PrPC with the sole addition of synthetic polyanions and lipids. These studies have shown that infectious prions can be produced in the absence of any other cellular component and constitute some of the strongest evidence in favor of the prion hypothesis. Research in 2020 concluded that<unk>  could be used to distinguish between two progressive neurodegenerative diseases, Parkinson’s disease and multiple system atrophy, being the first process to give an objective diagnosis of Multiple System Atrophy instead of just a differential diagnosis.
Protein misfolding cyclic amplification
Molecular mimicry
Protein aggregation
Antigenic variation
Microbial synergy
Viral interference
Trinucleotide repeat expansion
Genetically modified virus