METHOD OF DETERMINING PRION STRAIN

摘要

The present invention provides assays for identifying the levels of both protease sensitie and protease resistant conformers of PrP<Sc> in a sample. In a preferred embodiment, the assay comprises determining levels of total PrP<Sc> in a sample, subjecting the PrP<Sc> fraction to treatment with a protease that selectively hydrolyzes the protease snesitive PrP<Sc> (sPrP<Sc>) conformers, and quantifying the elvels of sPrP<Sc> in the sample. The ability to detect sPrP<Sc> allows early detection of prions, since the PrP<Sc> in easily accessible biological samples such as blood is predominantly sPrP<Sc>. The ratio of sPrP<Sc> to rPrp<Sc> also allows the identification of a particular prion strain in an infected sample.