Urinary alpha1-antichymotrypsin: a biomarker of prion infection.

ABSTRACT: The occurrence of blood-borne prion transmission incidents calls for identification of potential prion carriers. However, current methods for intravital diagnosis of prion disease rely on invasive tissue biopsies and are unsuitable for large-scale screening. Sensitive biomarkers may help meeting this need. Here we scanned the genome for transcripts elevated upon prion infection and encoding secreted proteins. We found that alpha(1)-antichymotrypsin (alpha(1)-ACT) was highly upregulated in brains of scrapie-infected mice. Furthermore, alpha(1)-ACT levels were dramatically increased in urine of patients suffering from sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, and increased progressively throughout the disease. Increased alpha(1)-ACT excretion was also found in cases of natural prion disease of ani

SUBMITTER: Miele G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2586086 | biostudies-literature | 2008

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature