Anti-Prionin IgG, Possible new Serum Markers for Contact and Infection with Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies: Preliminary Results from Screening 100 Blood Donors

Abstract

Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSE) are a group of rare neurodegenerative diseases that affect humans and animals. There is compelling evidence that variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) in humans results from the consumption of cattle affected by bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) [2]. Although there is no reported case of transmittance of vCJD by blood or blood products, this theoretical risk has not yet been ruled out.A pre-symptomatic test, which would assess the potential threat to public health, is still lacking. In this study we used a new ELISA which detects IgG against prionins, a possible new serum marker for TSEs. Prionins are species-specific proteins, encoded from genes within the prion genes (Fig. 1).