Transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) or
prion diseases are fatal rare
neurodegenerative disorders affecting man and animals and caused by a transmissible infectious agent. TSE diseases are characterized by spongiform brain lesions with neuronal loss and the abnormal deposition in the CNS, and to less extent in other tissues, of an insoluble and
protease resistant form of the cellular
prion protein (PrP(C)), named PrP(TSE). In man, TSE diseases affect usually people over 60 years of age with no evident disease-associated risk factors. In some cases, however, TSE diseases are unequivocally linked to infectious episodes related to the use of
prion-contaminated medicines, medical devices, or meat products as in the
variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD). Clinical signs occur months or years after
infection, and during this silent period PrP(TSE), the only reliable marker of
infection, is not easily measurable in blood or other accessible tissues or body fluids causing public health concerns. To overcome the limit of PrP(TSE) detection, several highly sensitive assays have been developed, but attempts to apply these techniques to blood of infected hosts have been unsuccessful or not yet validated. An update on the latest advances for the detection of misfolded
prion protein in body fluids is provided.