Use of 14-3-3 in the diagnosis of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease

2002 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 382-386 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. J. E. Green

The transmissible spongiform encephalopathies include human diseases such as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) and kuru as well as animal diseases such as scrapie and bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). The emergence of variant CJD, which is causally related to BSE, has generated much interest in the development of rapid and sensitive diagnostic tests for the pre-mortem diagnosis of CJD. In 1986 two proteins were detected in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of patients with sporadic CJD. These proteins were later demonstrated to be members of the 14-3-3 family, and tests for the detection of CSF 14-3-3 were developed. A number of studies have shown that the detection of CSF 14-3-3 is an accurate test for sporadic CJD, although the results with variant CJD are less promising.

2012 ◽  
Vol 93 (7) ◽  
pp. 1624-1629 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rona Wilson ◽  
Chris Plinston ◽  
Nora Hunter ◽  
Cristina Casalone ◽  
Cristiano Corona ◽  
...  

The association between bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (vCJD) has demonstrated that cattle transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) can pose a risk to human health and raises the possibility that other ruminant TSEs may be transmissible to humans. In recent years, several novel TSEs in sheep, cattle and deer have been described and the risk posed to humans by these agents is currently unknown. In this study, we inoculated two forms of atypical BSE (BASE and H-type BSE), a chronic wasting disease (CWD) isolate and seven isolates of atypical scrapie into gene-targeted transgenic (Tg) mice expressing the human prion protein (PrP). Upon challenge with these ruminant TSEs, gene-targeted Tg mice expressing human PrP did not show any signs of disease pathology. These data strongly suggest the presence of a substantial transmission barrier between these recently identified ruminant TSEs and humans.


1999 ◽  
Vol 67 (12) ◽  
pp. 6591-6595 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harmale Tiwana ◽  
Clyde Wilson ◽  
John Pirt ◽  
William Cartmell ◽  
Alan Ebringer

ABSTRACT Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) is a neurological disorder, predominantly of British cattle, which belongs to the group of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies together with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), kuru, and scrapie. Autoantibodies to brain neurofilaments have been previously described in patients with CJD and kuru and in sheep affected by scrapie. Spongiform-like changes have also been observed in chronic experimental allergic encephalomyelitis, at least in rabbits and guinea pigs, and in these conditions autoantibodies to myelin occur. We report here that animals with BSE have elevated levels of immunoglobulin A autoantibodies to brain components, i.e., neurofilaments (P < 0.001) and myelin (P < 0.001), as well as toAcinetobacter calcoaceticus (P < 0.001), saprophytic microbes found in soil which have sequences cross-reacting with bovine neurofilaments and myelin, but there were no antibody elevations against Agrobacterium tumefaciens orEscherichia coli. The relevance of such mucosal autoantibodies or antibacterial antibodies to the pathology of BSE and its possible link to prions requires further evaluation.


2005 ◽  
Vol 4 (10) ◽  
pp. 273-278
Author(s):  
Steve Dealler

Steve Dealler is a medical microbiologist with Morecambe Bay Hospitals NHS Trust. His work on on the diagnosis, epidemiology and potential treatment of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies has brought him inter-national recognition. He has been at the forefront of work on the epidemiology of human food containing the vector for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), and the development of prophylaxis against variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD). He is currently working on a potential treatment, pentosan polysulphate. Here he describes the current state of knowledge in the battle against this devastating disease and the political inertia that frustrated earlier attempts to prevent the epidemic.


2005 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 6-8
Author(s):  
David R. Brown

Prion diseases are neurodegenerative diseases1 that have been linked together because they may potentially have the same cause. These include the diseases scrapie of sheep and BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) of cattle, and also several human diseases that include sporadic CJD (Creutzfeldt-Jakob) disease and a variety of inherited forms. The inherited forms of prion diseases are linked to mutations within the gene for the prion protein. Around 85% of all human cases of prion disease are sporadic CJD, which is a disease affecting people of around 60 years of age. The cause of this disease remains unknown. Unfortunately, the name of this disease causes some confusion, as it is similar to vCJD (variant CJD), a related disease of much younger people.


2005 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 29-32
Author(s):  
S.O. Sowemimo-Coker

Prion diseases (TSEs, transmissible spongiform encephalopathies) are fatal neurodegenerative diseases that affect both humans and animals, including scrapie in sheep, BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) in cattle and CJD (Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease) and its variant (vCJD) in humans. The recent occurrences of probable cases of transmission of vCJD through blood transfusion raises concerns about the safety of the blood supply and the possibility of transmission of the causative agent by blood transfusion from asymptomatic infected individuals.


2003 ◽  
Vol 7 (34) ◽  
Author(s):  

The European Commission has issued a series of answers to a selection of questions on Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (TSE), the family of illnesses that includes Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease (CJD) in humans, Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy


1996 ◽  
Vol 17 (8) ◽  
pp. 521-528
Author(s):  
Dominique Dormont

AbstractTransmissible spongiform encephalopathies are rare lethal diseases induced in humans and animals by unconventional agents called transmissible spongiform encephalopathy agents (TSEAs), virions, or prions. Several cases of iatrogenic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) have been reported in the literature after neuro-surgery, treatment with pituitary-derived hormones, corneal grafting, and use of dura mater lyophilisates. In a given infected individual, TSEA-associated infectiousness depends on the nature of the organ: the central nervous system has the highest infectiousness, spleen and lymph nodes a medium infectiousness, and organs such as bone, skin, or skeletal muscles do not harbor any detectable infectiousness in experimental models. Transmissible spongiform encephalopathy/prions have unconventional properties; in particular, they resist almost all the chemical and physical processes that inactivate conventional viruses. Therefore, prevention of CJD agent transmission must be taken into account in daily hospital practice. Efficient sterilization procedures should be determined. In tissue and blood donation, donors with a neurologic history must be excluded, and patients treated with pituitary-derived hormones should be considered potentially infected with TSEA and excluded.


2001 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 555-556 ◽  
Author(s):  
Markus Glatzel

Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies are a group of invariably fatal neurodegenerative diseases. The infectious agent is termed prion and is thought to be composed of a modified protein (PrPSc or PrPRES), a protease-resistant conformer of the normal host-encoded membrane glycoprotein, PrPC[1]. Bovine spongiform encephalopathy, scrapie of sheep, and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease are among the most notable transmissible spongiform encephalopathies. Prions are most efficiently propagated trough intracerebral inoculation, yet the entry point of the infectious agent is often through peripheral sites like the gastrointestinal tract[2,3]. The process by which prions invade the brain is termed neuroinvasion[4]. We and others have speculated that, depending on the amount of infectious agent injected, the injection site, and the strain of prions employed, neuroinvasion can occur either directly via peripheral nerves or first through the lymphoreticular system and then via peripheral nerves[5].


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