45 results about "Spongiform encephalopathy" patented technology

A method for extracting prion protein from a biological material, e.g., an animal tissue or product. In a specific example, abnormal prion protein is extracted from homogenized sheep brain with hexafluoro-2-propanol. The hexafluoro-2-propanol is separated from the aqueous brain preparation by increasing the ionic strength of the aqueous solution. Prion protein in the organic extract can be further purified, or the extract can be tested, e.g., by immunoassay, for the presence of prion protein, and more particularly abnormal prion protein. The extraction process permits testing for the presence of abnormal prior protein, e.g., for diagnosis of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSE).

Provided is a method of detecting transmissible spongiform encephalopathies. The method comprises: selecting a sample from a subject to determine whether the subject has a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy; and detecting spiroplasma-specific 16S rDNA indicative of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies in the sample. The spiroplasma-specific 16S rDNA is preferably detected by contacting the sample with a pair of oligonucleotide primers under polymerase chain reaction conditions and detecting the resulting polymerase chain reaction product, wherein each of the pair of the oligonucleotide primers is complementary to spiroplasma-specific 16S rDNA indicative of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies. Further provided is an oligonucleotide having a nucleotide sequence complementary to spiroplasma-specific 16S rDNA indicative of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies; as well as an oligonucleotide having a nucleotide sequence specific to spiroplasma-specific 16S rDNA indicative of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies.

Disclosed herein are compounds and methods for decreasing PrP and preventing, ameliorating, or treating a prion disease or conformational neurodegenerative disorder, in an individual in need thereof. Examples of disease conditions that can be ameliorated with the administration of antisense compounds targeted to PrP include Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD); variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD); Gerstmann-Straussler-Scheinker syndrome; fatal familial insomnia; kuru; Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), e.g. “mad cow disease”; Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD); scrapie; transmissible mink encephalopathy; feline spongiform encephalopathy; ungulate spongiform encephalopathy; Alzheimer's disease; Parkinson's disease; Huntington's disease; and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).

The invention relates to a method of detecting Transmissable Spongiform Encephalopathies (TSE) in animals, particulary in animal carcasses, using an anti-PrPsc antibody in an immunological assay. Also disclosed is a diagnostic kit for detecting TSE comprising the same antibody.

The use of Apolipoprotein B, Apolipoprotein E, fragments and mimetics thereof is provided for diagnostic, detection, prognostic and therapeutic applications In prion diseases. More specifically, the invention provides the use of Apolipoprotein B or fragments thereof for modulating or identifying modulators of the prion protein replication which are implicated in the pathogenesis of transmissible spongiform encephalopathics and other prion diseases.

Transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) is diagnosed in a subject by using mass spectrometry to observe a polypeptide in a sample of body fluid taken from the subject. The polypeptide is differentially contained in the body fluid of TSE-infected subjects and non-infected subjects, and has a molecular weight in the range of from 1000 to 100000.

The purpose of the present invention is to evaluate the quality of feed for ruminants and consequently, avoid the transmission of TSEs through the detection of animal proteins in these foods. This purpose is embodied in the form of a method for detecting proteins of animal origin in complex mixtures comprising the stages of: (i) extraction of the proteic matter in high concentration from a sample of the initial complex mixture in a manner as to substantially remove all interferents; (ii) preparation of the matrix-analyte in a manner as to maintain low levels of impurities and an adequate matrix-analyte molar rate; (iii) analysis of the material obtained in the prior stage by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry; (iv) optionally, fractionation of the samples or isolation of the components by RP-HPLC and identification of the components by means of automatic sequencing of the N-terminal region and sequencing of its peptidic fragments by liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS). The present invention also contemplates the use of this method in the detection of proteins of animal origin in feed for ruminants, which permits the interruption of transmission of Transmittable Spongiform Encephalopathies, and more particularly Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathies (BSE).

Methods for diagnosing altered neuropathology in an animal are disclosed, wherein said methods comprise imaging brain, spinal cord, or other neural tissue of the animal, analyzing the appearance of the tissue, and determining whether the appearance of the tissue is altered relative to corresponding unaltered tissue. Also disclosed are methods for diagnosing spongiform encephalopathies in an animal, wherein said methods comprise imaging brain, spinal cord, or other neural tissues of the animal, analyzing the appearance of vacuoles in the tissue, and determining whether the appearance of the vacuoles in the tissue is altered relative to corresponding spongiform encephalopathy-free tissue. Also disclosed are automated methods for diagnosing altered neuropathy and spongiform encephalopathies.

In the present invention, we described the use of anti-DNA antibody for the detection of prions and diagnosis of Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (TSE) diseases in animals and humans.

The present invention relates to the diagnosis of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs). It especially teaches the production of a soluble prion protein (PrP)-chaperone complex and the advantageous use of such chaperone-PrP complex, especially in the detection of PrP in an immunoassay, as well as its use as and immunogen.

The present invention relates to a medium composition for production of botulinum toxin and, more particularly, to a medium composition for culture of Clostridium sp. capable of producing botulinum toxin. The medium composition of the present invention comprises at least one plant-derived peptone selected from the group consisting of a garden pea hydrolysate, a cotton seed hydrolysate and a wheat gluten hydrolysate. When the medium according to the present invention, which contains plant-derived peptones and minerals, is used for culture of Clostridium botulinum, the growth rate of the bacterium in the medium is about 1.5-2 times higher than that in the medium that is in current use. In addition, when botulinum toxin is produced by culturing the bacterium in the medium, infection with transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) or the like can be prevented by blocking introduction of animal-derived components.

The present invention relates to a method for isolating prions from a solution containing prions and at least one other biomolecule, the method comprising passing the solution through an anion-exchange chromatography column and eluting under conditions forming a gradient wherein the prions are Separating from the at least one biomolecule causes said biomolecule to be collected in a different elution fraction than the prion-containing elution fraction. In one embodiment, the gradient is a pH gradient, eg a step gradient. Prions may be pathogens, for example, pathogens of spongiform encephalopathy, such as cortico-striatal-myeloid degeneration, parieto-occipital syndrome, sheep dysentery, bovine spongiform encephalopathy and the like.

Embodiments of the present invention include methods and systems for designing inhibitors of amyloidosis in humans, domesticated animals, and wild animals as well as inhibitors of amyloidosis designed by the methods and systems. Methods and systems for designing inhibitors of amyloidosis are largely computational, in nature, and are directed to designing various types of polymers, small-molecule organic compounds, organometallic compounds, or non-chemical physical processes that can target the extended-α-strand and α-sheet regions of amyloidogenic protein and polypeptide intermediates in order to prevent aggregation of those intermediates into protofibrils and fibrils that, in turn, recruit additional native-conformation proteins and polypeptides into amyloidogenic intermediates and that additionally aggregate to form higher-order structures, such as plaques observed in the brains of patients suffering from the various spongiform encephalopathies.