Scientists Develop new Test to Detect Prion

By Dane Lorica, | December 24, 2016

 Prions are proteins that cause Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and mad cow disease. (YouTube)

Prions are proteins that cause Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and mad cow disease. (YouTube)

Thanks to a newly developed test, prion can now be detected with 100 percent accuracy even before the symptoms show. Consumption of meat from cattle carrying the infectious agent predisposes people to a fatal brain condition without a cure. However, symptoms will only show after decades.

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Prions are proteins that cause Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and mad cow disease. When they reach the brain, normal proteins in the area will be abnormally converted causing havoc and death of the affected individual. Scientists say that it will take "several years to a few decades" before the symptoms manifest in humans. Neurologist Claudio Soto noted that "it could be that you're exposed one day and then, 40 years after, you develop the disease."

During the development of the disease, prions will linger in other body tissues including the tonsils and appendix. While the person remains asymptomatic, he/she becomes a carrier. Between the 1980s and 1990s, the Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease was highly prevalent in the United Kingdom. This has resulted in 277 cases in the country. According to a 2013 estimate, it was revealed that 1 out of 2,000 individuals or roughly 30,000 people silently carry the infection. Hence, procedures such as blood donation will put other individuals in danger.

In two studies headed by Soto and Daisy Bougard, a test for a variant of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease was found effective in detecting low prion level in the bloodstream. Patients from the UK and France were tested using two methods that imitate the disease's development in both artificial and accelerated environment. The separation of prions from normal blood proteins was repeatedly performed until either small or zero quantity is detected.

The researchers revealed that 32 were infected with a variant of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease from 391 tested individuals. The data also revealed that some regular blood donors who tested positive for other variants of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and neurological diseases.

The study, which was published in Science Translational Medicine, states that early diagnostic test will help in ensuring the safety of blood samples by eliminating supplies that may have been contaminated by a disease-causing agent. Soto added that this would help "diminish the possibility of people getting infected, and eventually developing this disease."

Neurologist Christina Orru likewise said that "we currently don't really understand the implications of silent carriers and if they could harbor another wave of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, particularly in the UK."

On the other hand, Paul Brown, who was previously part of the Laboratory of Central Nervous System Studies of the National Institutes of Health, said that the disease caused by prion is no longer a major problem and that there were only two reported cases this year. 

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