Prion diseases: Antibodies block PrP^Sc formation in vitro

The need for effective diagnostic and therapeutic measures to combat prion diseases, most notably variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, is pressing. An evaluation of a panel of monoclonal antibody fragments binding to different regions of the normal cellular form of the prion protein PrP^C shows that certain antibodies inhibit formation of disease-causing PrP^Sc in cell culture. The question of whether such antibodies are effective in animal models remains unanswered, because the long incubation period of scrapie means that these experiments will take another year. Meanwhile the indications are that it should be possible to develop vaccines against prion diseases, and antibodies effective in the cell culture experiment may point the way towards regions of the PrP^C that are involved in prion replication and might be potential targets for drugs.

Antibodies inhibit prion propagation and clear cell cultures of prion infectivity
DAVID PERETZ, R. ANTHONY WILLIAMSON, KIOTOSHI KANEKO, JULIE VERGARA, ESTELLE LECLERC, GEROLD SCHMITT-ULMS, INGRID R. MEHLHORN, GIUSEPPE LEGNAME, MARK R. WORMALD, PAULINE M. RUDD, RAYMOND A. DWEK, DENNIS R. BURTON & STANLEY B. PRUSINER
Nature 412, 739-743 (16 August 2001)
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16 August 2001 table of contents