Decades before the fundamental molecular genetics or biochemical properties were known, Familial (resulting from gene relations) aggregation had been acknowledged as an obvious feature of many neurodegenerative disorders. Often it was the identification of …show more content…
2010). Most cases of prion diseases are sporadic with no apparent onset, but in some rare cases, prion diseases are acquired from faulty genes, by surgical procedures, transfusions, or from contaminated foods. There is currently no cure for prion diseases because of a few reasons. For one, the immune system is unable to recognize misfolded form of the protein as a pathogen to be destroyed; hence the aggregates or amyloid plaques that form from this process go undetected. Prion proteins are also extremely resistant to many chemical reactions, ultra violet light and heat, which are conventional ways of denaturing or destroying proteins (Alper et al.