L'utilisation de cultures cellulaires permet d'aborder la plupart des questions scientifiques relatives aux recherches sur les encephalopathies spongiformes transmissibles. Ces modeles in vitro comprennent principalement des lignees infectees de facon chronique par les prions ou qui expriment des quantites variables de proteines du prion normales, mutees ou chimeriques. Ces cultures cellulaires ont permis d'aborder de facon detaillee la biologie cellulaire de la proteine du prion normale et pathologique. Elles ont egalement contribue a la comprehension des mecanismes pathologiques des encephalopathies spongiformes transmissibles et au developpement de nouvelles approches therapeutiques de ces affections. Pour citer cet article : S. Lehmann et al., C. R. Biologies, 325 (2002) 59-65.
Cell cultures represent versatile and useful experimental models of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies. These models include chronically prion infected cell lines, as well as cultures expressing variable amounts of wild-type, mutated or chimeric prion proteins. These cultures have been widely used to investigate the biology of both the normal and the pathological isoform of the prion protein. They have also contributed to the comprehension of the pathogenic processes occurring in transmissible spongiform encephalopathies and in the development of new therapeutic approaches of these diseases. To cite this article: S. Lehmann et al., C. R. Biologies, 325 (2002) 59-65.