The European Commission on 28 May launched the world's largest prion disease research network.

With 52 centers from 20 countries and a five-year budget of €14.4 million, the NeuroPrion Network aims to understand what causes prion protein modifications, how they develop in animals, and how they are transferred to humans to cause variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD). A new prion research facility, to be launched at the Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique, a multidisciplinary research organization near Paris, will coordinate the network, identifying areas for applied research and greater coordination.

Researchers plan to develop early diagnostic tests for prion diseases in both animals and humans. The network will include national surveillance centers for vCJD in the European Union. Institutes will share training programs, staff, genetically modified mouse strains, and tissue and fluid banks.

Since 1995, 141 people have died from vCJD in the UK. Results from direct analyses of human biopsies indicate that nearly 4,000 Britons between ages 10 and 30 may be harboring the prion protein that causes vCJD. The UK Health Protection Agency, a member of the new network, is collecting 100,000 tonsil samples to be tested for the disease.

The network “is a very interesting experiment,” says Theodoros Sklaviadis, an expert in prion diseases at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece. But, in light of the recent tissue survey results, he says, “additional funds should be allocated to cover basic research needs.”