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ARTICLE | Translation in Brief

A wrinkle in prion

The first tests sensitive enough to detect prion proteins in blood

February 16, 2017 9:14 PM UTC

A form of fatal encephalitis called variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease has been transmitted through blood transfusions at least four times in the U.K. because no test exists that can screen blood samples for the misfolded prion proteins that cause the disease. In December studies in Science Translational Medicine, two academic groups independently made strides toward fixing that problem by demonstrating initial proof-of-concept data for blood-based detection methods that may be sensitive enough to identify presymptomatic carriers of the pathogenic protein.

Whereas sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is caused by misfolding of human prion protein (PRNP; PrP; CD230), the variant version results from consumption of beef contaminated with misfolded cow prion proteins. Patients with the variant form may not show symptoms for decades, making them more likely to unknowingly infect others through blood donations...