variant Creutzfeldt Jakob disease (vCJD) News and Research

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New detection method could lead to noninvasive diagnosis of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease

The detection of prions in the blood of patients with variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease could lead to a noninvasive diagnosis prior to symptoms and a way to identify prion contamination of the donated blood supply, according to researchers at McGovern Medical School at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.

22 Dec 2016

Advanced assay offers better sensitivity for detecting a prion disease affecting elk

Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs), or prion diseases, are a family of rare progressive, neurodegenerative illnesses that affect both humans and animals. TSE surveillance is important for public health and food safety because TSEs have the potential of crossing from animals to humans, as seen with the spread of mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). A study in The Journal of Molecular Diagnostics describes an advanced assay that offers better sensitivity than currently available tests for detecting a prion disease affecting elk.

11 Apr 2016

Prion protein could play a role in depression

The discovery of antidepressant drugs in the 1950s led to the first biochemical hypothesis of depression, known as the monoamine hypothesis. This hypothesis proposes that an imbalance of certain brain chemicals is the key cause of depression.

14 Aug 2015

New study reveals how infectious proteins spread from gut to the brain

Diagnosis of deadly brain conditions could be helped by new research that shows how infectious proteins that cause the disease spread.

5 Aug 2015

Mad cow disease raises concern but safety nets are in place says USDA

Four sick cows ever discovered in the U.S., the one announced Tuesday being the first since 2006, and no human version of the illness linked to eating U.S. beef, is not enough to worry about. “From simply a public health issue, I put it very, very low,” Cornell University food safety expert Martin Wiedmann said of the level of concern about mad cow disease. Maintaining confidence in exports fuels the nation's monitoring of the beef supply as much as continuing safety concerns, he said.

26 Apr 2012

MAVS prion-like proteins are involved in innate immunity: Discovery

A person's ability to battle viruses at the cellular level remarkably resembles the way deadly infectious agents called prions misfold and cluster native proteins to cause disease, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers report.

9 Aug 2011

Travel, hunting, and venison consumption linked to prion diseases

Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have examined the potential for human exposure to prion diseases, looking at hunting, venison consumption, and travel to areas in which prion diseases have been reported in animals.

23 May 2011

CSEW fails to protect public health by refusing to take part in variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease study

The creation of a post-mortem tissue archive for a study of the human form of mad cow disease failed because of a "misguided" refusal by coroners to participate.

9 May 2011

Grifols receives FDA approval for Alphanate to treat vCJD

Grifols, a global healthcare company and biopharmaceutical manufacturer based in Barcelona, Spain today announced that it received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration for revised labeling for Alphanate Antihemophilic Factor/von Willebrand Factor Complex indicating that certain manufacturing steps have been shown to reduce the infectivity of a experimental TSE agent that is a model for variant Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease.

5 Mar 2011

Blood test for screening mad cow disease to come soon: Study

UK scientists have developed a new blood test that can diagnose cases of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD), a rare, fatal brain disease caused by proteins known as prions. These prions are also responsible for the mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). This test could in near future be used to identify contaminated blood and prevent transmission of the disease during blood transfusions, the researchers said.

6 Feb 2011

IGEN Networks signs MOU with Bio Business Development

IGEN Networks Corp. is pleased to announce that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Bio Business Development Corp. International, Inc. to negotiate the acquisition of the exclusive global distribution rights to the patented lateral-flow diagnostic testing platform technology for rapid detection of the infectious prion protein diseases.

1 Apr 2010

Pall launches Leukotrap Affinity Plus Prion and Leukocyte Reduction Filter System

Pall Corporation, a global leader in filtration, separation and purification, today announced the launch of the Leukotrap® Affinity Plus Prion and Leukocyte Reduction Filter System. The new blood filter reduces prions and leukocytes in a single step.

From Pall Corporation 3 Feb 2010

Amorfix Life Sciences reports operating results for the three months ended September 30, 2009

Amorfix Life Sciences, a company focused on misfolded protein diseases, today reported its second quarter operating results and provided an update on the Company's diagnostic and therapeutic programs.

13 Nov 2009

Amorfix Life Sciences signs sale and distribution agreement with Cedarlane Laboratories

Amorfix Life Sciences, a company focused on treatments and diagnostics for misfolded protein diseases, announced today that it has signed an agreement with Cedarlane Laboratories for the sale and distribution of Amorfix's proprietary antibodies and reagents.

22 Oct 2009

Farmed fish and mad cow disease – researchers air new concerns

University of Louisville neurologist Robert P. Friedland, M.D., questions the safety of eating farmed fish in the June issue of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, adding a new worry to concerns about the nation's food supply.

16 Jun 2009

Researchers discover how prion protein damages brain cells

Scientists at the National Institutes of Health have gained a major insight into how the rogue protein responsible for mad cow disease and related neurological illnesses destroys healthy brain tissue.

11 Jun 2009

Prevalence of vCJD agent in Britain remains uncertain

First results from a large tissue survey in Britain of the agent that causes variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) are unable so far to establish that the prevalence is lower than that given by previous estimates, concludes a study published on bmj.com.

22 May 2009

Antibody key to treating variant CJD

Scientists at the University of Liverpool have determined the atomic structure of the 'binding' between a brain protein and an antibody that could be key to treating patients with diseases such as variant CJD.

4 Mar 2009

vCJD blood test achieves 100% accuracy

Amorfix Life Sciences has announced it achieved 100% sensitivity and 100% specificity in a second blinded trial of human blood samples using its EP-vCJD blood test in collaboration with the National Institute for Biological Standards and Control (NIBSC) in the United Kingdom.

21 Dec 2008