Cholesterol and its reciprocal association with prion infection.

Prion diseases are incurable, infectious and fatal neurodegenerative diseases that affect both humans and animals. The pathogenesis of prion disease involves the misfolding of the cellular prion protein, PrP, to a disease-causing conformation, PrP, in the brain. The exact mechanism of conversion of PrP to PrP is not clear; however, there are numerous studies supporting that this process of misfolding requires the association of PrP with lipid raft domains of the plasma membrane.