On the horizon: a blood test for prions.
A recent paper by Castilla et al. reported the detection of prions in the blood of scrapie-infected hamsters using a biochemical amplification method that is conceptually analogous to the polymerase chain reaction. This technological advance raises the possibility that prion diseases in humans and livestock could soon be diagnosed using blood samples if several technical limitations can be overcome.
Supattapone
Surachai
S
Department of Biochemistry, Dartmouth Medical School, Hanover, NH 03755, USA. supattapone@dartmouth.edu
Geoghegan
James C
JC
Rees
Judy R
JR
D000818:Animals; D001927:Brain Diseases / Q000097:blood*; D006224:Cricetinae; D006403:Hematologic Tests / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D018620:PrPSc Proteins / Q000097:blood*; D017096:Prion Diseases / Q000097:blood*
D018620:PrPSc Proteins