A Blood Test for Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease?

Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD), a human prion disease, was first linked to consumption of contaminated meat; subsequently, cases of vCJD cases transmitted through blood transfusion were identified. Development of a blood test for prions is an important clinical and public health priority, particularly in the U.K., where an estimated 1 in 2000 people are asymptomatic carriers. Now, two groups report that protein misfolding cyclic amplification (PMCA) technology can detect prions in the blood of patients with vCJD. The basic premise is that abnormal prions, such as those in vCJD, can nucleate and convert a normal human protein, PrP, into the altered form. Following multiple cycles of sonication and incubation, the altered prions are…