New blood test detects mad cow disease

[Celebration]

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9118063/

The team’s new technique, called “protein misfolding cyclic amplification” (PMCA) expands the amount of prions by exposing them to sound wave energy, or sonication. “We mimic the molecular process by which abnormal protein transforms normal protein in the brain and we speed it up,” Soto said.

“We calculate that for each abnormal protein we have in a sample we can produce at least 10 million molecules in a matter of a few days,” an amount that is then detectable by standard assay methods.

So far the technique has been tested with animals, but ultimately Soto hopes his group can develop the means to screen human blood in populations at high risk for variant Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease, because of their exposure to meat from animals with mad cow disease.

“We know that from the time people get infected to the time they develop clinical symptoms can last up to 40 years, so we still have 20 years to go before we see full extent of the disease,” he said, referring to the situation that arose in the 1980s.

[BootinUp]

1. How the hell do they know that?

Up to a 40 year incubation period?

[HysteryDiagnosis]

2. Damn good question..... wft is that all about??

[BootinUp]

3. Seems to be a quite a leap. Considering that

they don't even know the source of the disease in a huge percentage of the cases. But then I ain't no PhD. :dunce:

[Celebration]

4. the sound waves

I didn't know it was quite that long (40 years)-- but they do know it is long from the UK experience. So I guess the sound waves applied to the blood simulates all those years..........

So my question--if you go to a lot of loud rock concerts after being exposed to prion disease, do you get mad cow a bit faster?

[ecoalex]

5. Just eat organic grass fed beef

It's healthy for you, omega 3 fats, low fat, clean natural protien, no urea, or synthetic proteins, or proteins made from synthetic nitrogen fertilizer.~ No worries mate.~

[HysteryDiagnosis]

6. If you learn about the INFLAMMATION that is a hallmark component

of nearly ALL DISEASE, physical, neurological whatever, and apply what you learn..... you might NEVER GET IT AT ALL... but then again... this isn't "real" science. </sarcasm>

1: J Am Coll Nutr. 2002 Feb;21(1):22-5. Related Articles, Links


The use of antioxidants in transmissible spongiform encephalopathies: a case report.

Drisko JA.

Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, School of Medicine, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City 66160, USA. [e-mail]

BACKGROUND: Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSE), which include Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, are diseases characterized by progressive deterioration in the central nervous system with neuronal degeneration, vacuolatization of the neuropil, and gliosis. Little is known about the pathogenic mechanisms of infection, and controversy exits around the inciting infective agent. It has been shown that an important factor in pathogenesis is the immune system. CASE: The reported case points to beneficial effects when antioxidant therapies are used in transmissible spongiform encephalopathies. The case revealed an early reversal in cognitive decline and subsequent improvements in myoclonus, apnea and rigidity. Although death was the ultimate outcome, the patient succumbed to the illness over 22 months after the onset of symptoms when the early rapid decline predicted demise within a few months. CONCLUSION: It is possible that strategies blocking the effect of proinflammatory cytokines and the resulting oxidative damage may stem the progressive damage to the neuropil that occurs in spongiform encephalopathies. Further investigation into the use of antioxidants and other types of agents quelling inflammation needs to be undertaken. If antioxidants could be combined with treatments for the inciting infective agent, a new direction could be taken in the outcome of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies including CJD and vCJD.

Publication Types:
Case Reports

PMID: 11838883


http://www.newhope.com/nutritionsciencenews/NSN_backs/Feb_01/lastword1.cfm
From The February 2001 Issue of Nutrition Science News

Antioxidants Cull Mad Cow Disease
by Jack Challem

Europeans, particularly the French, are mad about mad cow disease (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) and its human variant, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Yet research dating back to 1996 suggests that antioxidants may prevent or slow the progression of aberrant proteins such as prions that cause such brain-destroying diseases.

In fact, the latest study reports that the mineral copper, part of the antioxidant superoxide dismutase, might hinder the advancement of prion disease by quenching free radicals. Other cell-culture research suggests that both vitamin E and N-acetylcysteine (NAC) are similarly beneficial. Perhaps those panicking about mad cow disease should have an extra glass of antioxidant-rich red wine.

Jack Challem, known as The Nutrition Reporter™, has been writing about vitamin research for 25 years and is the author of Syndrome X: The Complete Nutritional Program to Prevent and Reverse Insulin Resistance (Wiley, 2000).

References

1. Wong BS, et al. Prion disease: a loss of antioxidant function. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 2000;275:248-52.

2. Challem J. Oxidative stress and prion disease. J Orthomolecular Med 1997;12:245.

[BootinUp]

7. You're tryin to start a scary rumor :-) n/t

[Ediacara]

8. Sort of off topic

I've been curious about this ever since I first learned of prions. Why do they work? Why do prions survive digestion? Are they not just protein strands, or is there something special about them that doesn't allow for digestion?

[greyl]

9. It may be because of how the scrapie protein chain is folded.

Does that seem plausible to you?

Or could it be that they don't need to travel through the digestive tract to get to the brain?