Objetivo
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) started, 20 years ago, a devastating health and food crisis throughout Europe. Classical BSE is now under control as a result of the meat and bone meal ban. However, tonsil analyses suggest that there may be an alarmingly high number of asymptomatic PrPSc positive cases. Transmission through blood transfusion is another important concern, as are recent “atypical cases” of BSE. Only a profound understanding of the molecular biology of prions will enable us to control them. Thus, to understand why BSE-contaminated food causes vCJD, we need to understand how prions get into food, what happens with them in the gut, how they reach the brain, and how they initiate the chain reaction rapidly leading to death. We have formulated 7 key questions: 1) How can we avoid a new BSE outbreak, or other possible future prion infection of livestock? 2) Why did decontamination of meat and bone meal fail; is there an effective way to decontaminate feedstuffs, soil etc? 3) What is the risk of humans being infected with each of the different prion strains known thus far? 4) Which are the best strategies to implement feasible prion eradication programs? 5) How can we develop a pre-clinical prion blood test? 6) How can we identify human cases with potential secondary transmission? And 7) What is the origin of atypical human CJD cases? We will search for decisive data on the structure of PrPSc, the molecular basis of strains and species barriers, the mechanism of prion conversion, the cell biology of PrPSc, the function of PrPC, and the mechanisms of PrP-associated pathology. This information will be translated into a better estimation of current exposure risk to humans from TSE, evaluation of current intervention strategies, and development of improved decontamination techniques and prion tests. With all this, we will be able to respond to the questions formulated and thus advise the EC on TSE policy for the protection of European consumers..
Ámbito científico
- natural sciencesbiological sciencescell biology
- medical and health sciencesbasic medicinepathology
- agricultural sciencesanimal and dairy sciencedomestic animalsanimal husbandry
- engineering and technologymedical engineeringmedical laboratory technologylaboratory samples analysis
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesmolecular biology
Palabras clave
Tema(s)
Convocatoria de propuestas
FP7-KBBE-2007-2A
Consulte otros proyectos de esta convocatoria
Régimen de financiación
CP-IP - Large-scale integrating projectCoordinador
15782 Santiago De Compostela
España
Ver en el mapa
Participantes (20)
8006 ZURICH
Ver en el mapa
40225 Dusseldorf
Ver en el mapa
75724 Paris
Ver en el mapa
1066 CX Amsterdam
Ver en el mapa
28040 MADRID
Ver en el mapa
17493 Greifswald-Insel Riems
Ver en el mapa
91904 Jerusalem
Ver en el mapa
17177 Stockholm
Ver en el mapa
EH8 9YL Edinburgh
Ver en el mapa
37075 Goettingen
Ver en el mapa
08007 Barcelona
Ver en el mapa
75007 Paris
Ver en el mapa
72072 TUBINGEN
Ver en el mapa
SW1P 3JR LONDON
Ver en el mapa
1433 AS
Ver en el mapa
833 03 Bratislava
Ver en el mapa
34136 Trieste
Ver en el mapa
6200 MD Maastricht
Ver en el mapa
8952 SCHLIEREN
Ver en el mapa
70599 Stuttgart
Ver en el mapa