White blood cell-based detection of asymptomatic scrapie infection by ex vivo assays.

ABSTRACT: Prion transmission can occur by blood transfusion in human variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and in experimental animal models, including sheep. Screening of blood and its derivatives for the presence of prions became therefore a major public health issue. As infectious titer in blood is reportedly low, highly sensitive and robust methods are required to detect prions in blood and blood derived products. The objectives of this study were to compare different methods--in vitro, ex vivo and in vivo assays--to detect prion infectivity in cells prepared from blood samples obtained from scrapie infected sheep at different time points of the disease. Protein misfolding cyclic amplification (PMCA) and bioassays in transgenic mice expressing the ovine prion protein were the most efficient methods

SUBMITTER: Halliez S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4133197 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature