Identification of a Compound That Disrupts Binding of Amyloid-β to the Prion Protein Using a Novel Fluorescence-based Assay

The prion protein (PrP) has been implicated both in prion diseases such as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, where its monomeric cellular isoform (PrP(C)) is recruited into pathogenic self-propagating polymers of misfolded protein, and in Alzheimer disease, where PrP(C) may act as a receptor for synaptotoxic oligomeric forms of amyloid-β (Aβ). There has been considerable interest in identification of compounds that bind to PrP(C), stabilizing its...