FEBS Letters
Volume 582, Issue 21 , Pages 3161-3166, 22 September 2008

Detection of infectious prions in urine

Edited by Aleksander Benjak

George and Cynthia Mitchell Center for Neurodegenerative diseases, Departments of Neurology, Neuroscience and Cell Biology and Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Texas Medical Branch, 301 University Boulevard, Galveston, TX 77555-0646, USA

Received 26 July 2008; accepted 4 August 2008. published online 12 August 2008.

Abstract 

Prions are the infectious agents responsible for prion diseases, which appear to be composed exclusively by the misfolded prion protein (PrPSc). The mechanism of prion transmission is unknown. In this study, we attempted to detect prions in urine of experimentally infected animals. PrPSc was detected in ∼80% of the animals studied, whereas no false positives were observed among the control animals. Semi-quantitative calculations suggest that PrPSc concentration in urine is around 10-fold lower than in blood. Interestingly, PrPSc present in urine maintains its infectious properties. Our data indicate that low quantities of infectious prions are excreted in the urine. These findings suggest that urine is a possible source of prion transmission.

Keywords: Prion, Transmissible spongiform encephalopathy, PMCA, Diagnosis, Scrapie

 

PII: S0014-5793(08)00673-X

doi:10.1016/j.febslet.2008.08.003

FEBS Letters
Volume 582, Issue 21 , Pages 3161-3166, 22 September 2008

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