Cyclic Amplification of Scrapie Prion Protein: Implications for Diagnosis

The development of tests that can effectively identify animals and humans incubating the different forms of TSE is a top priority. PrPSc is the only validated surrogate marker for the disease and the only known component of the TSE infectious agent. We have recently described a procedure to induce an accelerated prion replication in vitro, based on the cyclic amplification of prion protein misfolding. This procedure, conceptually analogous to DNA amplification by PCR, has tremendous implications for research and diagnosis of TSE.