Washington: Research led by scientists at U of T's Centre for Research in Neuro-degenerative Diseases and Caprion Pharmaceuticals have provided a way to detect and treat the brain-wasting damage of infectious prions like those found in mad cow disease and its human version, Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease.

Dr Neil Cashman, a principal investigator at the centre, says a vaccine approach could prevent animals from becoming infected. For humans with diseases like classical or variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob, an immuno-therapeutic would provide patients with antibodies that bind infectious prions, enabling the immune system to recognise and attack them. For both humans and animals, the diagnostic screening potential of this discovery could significantly improve the safety of the human blood and food systems.

All mammals have prion proteins, the highest levels of which are present in the brain. Mammals can contract prion diseases by ingesting abnormal or infectious prions. From the digestive system, these prions make their way to the brain.

When an abnormal prion comes in contact with a normal prion protein, it causes the protein to misfold, thus creating a copy of the infectious prion and since the abnormal prion has similar characteristics to the original host protein, the immune system does not recognize it as a foreign invader and does not attack it.

By their discovery, Cashman and his colleagues made it possible for the immune system to recognize the abnormal prion and attack it. The antibodies recognized the abnormal prions while leaving the normal prion proteins intact.

Dr Cashman's discovery is seen as a vital step in understanding the causes of prion diseases and will play a key role in developing vaccines and a new generation of drugs to combat this condition.

ANI