Real-time quaking-induced conversion for diagnosis of prion disease

Abstract

Sporadic human prion diseases are defined on the basis of clinical features, with periodic sharp discharge (PSD) on electroencephalograms (EEG), a positive 14-3-3 protein assay of CSF samples, and abnormal signals on cerebral cortex on diffusion-weighted (DWI) MR images. It is essential to detect the abnormal prion protein in neuropathological or immunochemical detection of brain tissues when we diagnose definite cases for human prion disease. We performed definite diagnosis of sporadic human prion disease in alive patients. Recently, testing of CSF with a new in vitro abnormal prion protein amplification technology, designated real-time quaking-induced conversion (RT-QUIC), has shown considerable promise as a highly specific diagnostic test for human prion disease.