Highly Infectious Prions Generated by a Single Round of Protein Misfolding Cyclic Amplification
See on Scoop.it – Virology and Bioinformatics from Virology.ca
Measurements of the presence of prions in biological tissues or fluids rely more and more on cell-free assays. Although protein misfolding cyclic amplification (PMCA) has emerged as a valuable, sensitive tool, it is currently hampered by its lack of robustness and rapidity for high-throughput purposes. Here, we made a number of improvements making it possible to amplify the maximum levels of scrapie prions in a single 48-h round and in a microplate format. The amplification rates and the infectious titer of the PMCA-formed prions appeared similar to those derived from thein vivo laboratory bioassays. This enhanced technique also amplified efficiently prions from different species, including those responsible for human variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. This new format should help in developing ultrasensitive, high-throughput prion assays for cognitive, diagnostic, and therapeutic applications.
I don’t know about you, but his sends shivers up my spine…amplifying prions in vitro?? Fast and reproducibly??? While it may well aid in diagnostics, I could get concerned about people having lab accidents – and getting CJD!
See on mbio.asm.org
