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Narrowing Down the Physiologcal Function of the Cellular Prion Protein
Although the clinical results of infection with infectious prion proteins (PrPSc) have been well-studied, the physiological function of the cellular conformation (PrPc) has not been identified. One of the most common hypotheses is based around the assumption that the function of PrPc is one of protection primarily through anti-apoptosis. Using structural biology techniques to analyze sequence and structure, we compared the cellular prion protein to other known anti-apoptotic proteins in order to narrow down their true function. Our results showed that there was no significant similarity between the anti-apoptotic proteins and PrPc at either the active site or the N-terminus. These results emphasized that further research should be done to elucidate the physiological function of prion proteins in order to hopefully discover more effective treatments for prion diseases.