Abstract

Misfolding and aggregation of proteins is the main feature of a group of maladies which include most of neurodegenerative diseases (such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Huntington's, and prion diseases), as well as several systemic amyloidosis. Among them, prion diseases are the only one known to be infectious. Current evidence shows that the infectious agent in priori diseases is the misfolded protein and that the molecular mechanisms responsible for transmissibility are very similar to the process of amyloid formation in all protein misfolding disorders (PMDs). In this chapter, we discuss the theoretical and experimental evidences suggesting the possible infectious nature of several PMDs.