Proteopathic Seeds and Neurodegenerative Diseases : Springer : 9783642354908 : 3642354904 : 12 Apr 2013 : The misfolding and aggregation of specific proteins is an early and obligatory event in many of the age-related neurodegenerative diseases of humans. The initial cause of this pathogenic cascade and the means whereby disease spreads through the nervous system, remain uncertain. A recent surge of research, first instigated by pathologic similarities between prion disease and Alzheimer's disease, increasingly implicates the conversion of disease-specific proteins into an aggregate-prone b-sheet-rich state as the prime mover of the neurodegenerative process. This prion-like corruptive protein templating or seeding now characterizes such clinically and etiologically diverse neurological disorders as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and frontotemporal lobar degeneration. Understanding the misfolding, aggregation, trafficking