Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences, University of L'Aquila, 67100 L'Aquila, Italy.
Biomedicine and Advanced Technologies Rieti Center, "Sabina Universitas", 02100, Rieti, Italy.
Int J Mol Sci. 2020 Jun 11;21(11):4168. doi: 10.3390/ijms21114168.
The prion protein (PrP) is an enigmatic molecule with a pleiotropic effect on different cell types; it is localized stably in lipid raft microdomains and it is able to recruit downstream signal transduction pathways by its interaction with various biochemical partners. Since its discovery, this lipid raft component has been involved in several functions, although most of the publications focused on the pathological role of the protein. Recent studies report a key role of cellular prion protein (PrP) in physiological processes, including cellular differentiation. Indeed, the PrP, whose expression is modulated according to the cell differentiation degree, appears to be part of the multimolecular signaling pathways of the neuronal differentiation process. In this review, we aim to summarize the main findings that report the link between PrP and stem cells.
朊病毒蛋白（PrP）是一种具有多种细胞效应的神秘分子；它在脂质筏微域中稳定定位，并通过与各种生化伙伴的相互作用招募下游信号转导途径。自发现以来，这种脂筏成分参与了多种功能，尽管大多数出版物都集中在该蛋白的病理作用上。最近的研究报告了细胞朊病毒蛋白（PrP）在生理过程中的关键作用，包括细胞分化。事实上，PrP 的表达根据细胞分化程度进行调节，它似乎是神经元分化过程中多分子信号通路的一部分。在这篇综述中，我们旨在总结报告 PrP 与干细胞之间联系的主要发现。
