Ultrasensitive human prion detection in cerebrospinal fluid by real-time quaking-induced conversion

By Ryuichiro Atarashi, K. Satoh, Kazunori Sano, T. Fuse, Naohiro Yamaguchi, D. Ishibashi, T. Matsubara, Takehiro Nakagaki, Hitoki Yamanaka, Susumu Shirabe and 7 more. Nature Medicine, 2011

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The development of technologies for the in vitro amplification of abnormal conformations of prion protein (PrPSc) has generated the potential for sensitive detection of prions. Here we developed a new PrPSc amplification assay, called real-time quaking-induced conversion (RT-QUIC), which allows the detection of ≥1 fg of PrPSc in diluted Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) brain homogenate. Moreover, we assessed the technique first in a series of Japanese subjects and then in a blind study of 30 cerebrospinal fluid specimens from Australia, which achieved greater than 80% sensitivity and 100% specificity. These findings indicate the promising enhanced diagnostic capacity of RT-QUIC in the antemortem evaluation of suspected CJD.

Subfields: Infectious Diseases, Molecular Biology, Nutrition and Dietetics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/a5d31cb48bc5b8c3058fbbca2c283aceaf603c43