Aguzzi
Fakultäten » Medizinische Fakultät » Neuropathologie, Institut für » Prof. Dr. Adriano Aguzzi » Aguzzi
Completed research project
| Title / Titel | Assessment of candidate secreted surrogate biomarkers for early diagnosis of prion disease in farm animals | ||||
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| Abstract (PDF, 14 KB) | |||||
| Summary / Zusammenfassung | At present there are no methods of securing pre-clinical diagnosis of TSEs. Whilst presence of PrPSc secures diagnostic association with the presence of prion disease, PrPSc is not always easily detectable in several forms of prion disease, particularly in body fluids. In order to enhance the safety of the blood supply, of presence of prion disease in sheep and cattle, absolute specificity in securing diagnosis of asymptomatic prion disease may not be required. Instead, it would be prudent to accommodate less than 100% specificity with a panel of surrogate markers capable of identifying ‘suspect’ individuals rather than definitive. We have identified two such potential markers, one of which has already been assessed in fluids of patients with CJD, Alzheimer’s Disease and healthy controls. Importantly, levels of one of those two markers assessed so far are profoundly elevated in urine samples of CJD patients. We propose to extend our analysis of our identified surrogate markers to the detection of prion disease in cattle with BSE and sheep with scrapie. This requires cloning of the bovine and ovine cDNAs encoding these proteins, generation of monoclonal antisera and establishment of robust ELISA methods for measurement. We will then assess levels of these two proteins in CSF, sera and urine of affected animals. On the basis of the exciting and promising data generated for one of these biomarkers so far in humans, we anticipate that measurement in farm animals should prove valuable. The technology will be simple and high throughput and the benefits are expected to primarily lie with national screening of live animals, using fluids such as urine. However, it is also likely that this research will have significant impact on future research also, potentially enabling monitoring of disease in a live animal. |
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| Keywords / Suchbegriffe | BSE, CJD, Alzheimer’s Disease, biomarkers, diagnosis | ||||
| Project leadership and contacts / Projektleitung und Kontakte |
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| Funding source(s) / Unterstützt durch |
Others DEFRA (UK) |
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| Duration of Project / Projektdauer | Sep 2005 to Dec 2008 |