已知羊瘙痒病(scrapie)与人类震颤病(kuru)和CJD等神经系统慢感染的病原体与典型病毒不同。关于其本质,迄今尚无定论。Prion是从感染scrapie的动物脑中发现的感染性蛋白质成分,其纯化制备为分子量2.7万～3万的蛋白质(PrP27—30),其氨基酸组成和核苷酸序列均已部分确定,已证明人类基因组中有PrP基因,定位于第20号染色体上。推测prion与多种神经系统变性病相关,但目前仅在动物scrapie和人CJD中证实。 It is known that scrapie and slow-onset pathogens of the nervous system, such as kuru and CJD, differ from typical viruses. As far as its nature is concerned, there is no conclusion yet. Prion is an infectious protein component found in the brain of animals infected with scrapie. The protein is purified from the brain of a scrapie infected animal with a molecular weight of 27,000 to 30,000 (PrP27-30). The amino acid composition and nucleotide sequence of Prion are partially confirmed. PrP gene in the genome, located on chromosome 20. Presumed prion associated with a variety of nervous system degenerative disease, but only in animal scrapie and human CJD confirmed.