Journal Article

Presymptomatic Detection of Prions in Blood

Soto, Claudio, Castilla, Joaquín, Saá, Paula

2006

Overview

Prions are thought to be the proteinaceous infectious agents responsible for transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs). PrPSc, the main component of the infectious agent, is also the only validated surrogate marker for the disease, and its sensitive detection is critical for minimizing the spread of the disease. We detected PrPSc biochemically in the blood of hamsters infected with scrapie during most of the presymptomatic phase of the disease. At early stages of the incubation period, PrPSc detected in blood was likely to be from the peripheral replication of prions, whereas at the symptomatic phase, PrPSc in blood was more likely to have leaked from the brain. The ability to detect prions biochemically in the blood of infected but not clinically sick animals offers a great promise for the noninvasive early diagnosis of TSEs.

• Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science,The American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Subject: Alzheimers disease / Animals / Biochemistry / Biological and medical sciences / Blood / Blood-Brain Barrier / brain / Brain Chemistry / Creutzfeldt-Jakob Syndrome - blood / Creutzfeldt-Jakob Syndrome - diagnosis / Cricetinae / Degenerative and inherited degenerative diseases of the nervous system. Leukodystrophies. Prion diseases / Disease transmission / early diagnosis / Epidemiology / hamsters / Humans / Inoculation / Lymphocytes - chemistry / Lymphoid Tissue - chemistry / Medical diagnosis / Medical sciences / Mesocricetus / Mice / Nervous system diseases / Neurology / pathogens / Prion diseases / Prions / Protein Folding / PrPSc proteins / PrPSc Proteins - blood / PrPSc Proteins - chemistry / Rodents / scrapie / Scrapie - blood / Scrapie - diagnosis / Sensitivity and Specificity / Spongiform encephalopathies / Time Factors