Section: New Results

A micellar on-pathway intermediate step explains the kinetics of prion amyloid formation

In [16] , we used a strong interdisciplinary collaboration between mathematicians and biologists to exhibit a new element taking an important role in the development of the pathological prion formation. Indeed, in a previous work by Alvarez-Martinez et al. (2011), the authors pointed out some fallacies in the mainstream interpretation of the prion amyloid formation. It appeared necessary to propose an original hypothesis able to reconcile the in vitro data with the predictions of a mathematical model describing the problem. Here, a model is developed accordingly with the hypothesis that an intermediate on-pathway leads to the conformation of the prion protein into an amyloid competent isoform thanks to a structure, called micelles, formed from hydrodynamic interaction. The authors also compared data to the prediction of their model and proposed a new hypothesis for the formation of infectious prion amyloids.