infectious protein hypothesis

The infectious protein hypothesis suggests that certain diseases are caused by misfolded proteins that can spread through the body, similar to how infectious agents like bacteria or viruses do. These abnormal proteins, known as prions, induce normal proteins to also misfold, creating a chain reaction. This process leads to brain damage in conditions like Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and mad cow disease. Unlike bacteria or viruses, prions contain no genetic material and are simply misfolded proteins that replicate by converting other normal proteins into the faulty shape.