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The 1985 outbreak of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad
cow disease, in the United Kingdom generated global awareness of a
previously obscure set of neurodegenerative diseases called transmis-
sible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs). TSEs are caused by infectious
agents. Yet, unlike all other known infectious diseases, TSE infectivity ap-
pears to be associated with an abnormally folded protein known as a prion
(Prusiner, 19821. There is no cure, prophylaxis, or fail-safe antemortem
diagnostic test for TSEs, often called prion diseases. Infected hosts incubate
a TSE for months to decades, and their health declines rapidly after the
onset of clinical symptoms; death invariably follows within a period of
months.
Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) became an epidemic that af-
fected hundreds of thousands of animals in the United Kingdom and in-
flicted economic harm on the country's cattle and beef industries. Cases of
BSE have also been reported in continental Europe, Israel, Japan, Canada,
and elsewhere.) Exposure to BSE-infected beef products has given rise to a
fatal human neurodegenerative disease called variant Creutzfel~t-Takob dis-
ease (vCJD), first identified in 1996 (Will et al., 19961. As of September 2,
2003,140 definite or probable vCTD cases had been identified in the United
Kingdom (National Creutzfel~t-Takob Disease Surveillance Unit, 2003), and
a handful of cases had been identified in other countries. Estimates of the
total number of people who will contract vCJD as a result of the BSE epi-
iEDITORS' NOTE: After this report was completed, the first U.S. case of BSE was identi-
fied in Washington State and was announced to the public on December 23, 2003.
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6
ADVANCING PRION SCIENCE
demic vary depending on assumptions regarding the incubation period, in-
dividual susceptibility, and the level of exposure. The incubation period for
another human prion disease, kuru, is 4 to 40 years (Huillard d'Aignaux et
al., 20021.
The origin of vCJD in prior-infected cattle raises the concern that
chronic wasting disease (CWD), a prion disease spreading among North
American deer and elk (Williams and Miller, 2002), could cause disease in
people who consume venison from the affected regions.
The European Commission has spent millions of euros on research to
develop better diagnostics for TSEs, especially BSE, with modest success.
Commercial diagnostic tests have been developed for rapid postmortem
BSE detection and are used throughout the United Kingdom and Europe.
These tests cannot detect prions present at low levels, however. The lack of
highly sensitive, accurate, and rapid tests has led to such controls as cat-
egorical importation bans and massive culling of herds to ensure the safety
of beef products.
To date the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has received no
request to approve a rapid test for the detection of human TSEs (personal
communication, D.M. Asher, FDA, July 1, 20031. However, the U.S. De-
partment of Agriculture's (USDA) Center for Veterinary Biologics has ap-
proved the use of three rapid tests for the detection of CWD in cervids
(personal communication, R. Hill, USDA APHIS Center for Veterinary
Biologics, November 25, 20031.
ORIGINS OF THIS STUDY
The economic and health consequences of BSE and vCJD in Europe
and the risk that U.S. military forces stationed abroad and their dependents
could contract a TSE through infected beef or contaminated blood products
led the U.S. Congress to pass a law establishing the National Prion Re-
search Project (NPRP) in 2002 (U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations,
20011. NPRP funds research on TSEs, with special emphasis on developing
. .
an antemortem ~ Agnostic test.
Congress mandated that the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) ad-
minister the new project, which was delegated to the Army's Medical Re-
search and Materiel Command (MRMC). MRMC administers grants
through a two-tiered process of external scientific peer review, followed by
programmatic review by a multidisciplinary group of DOD and civilian
experts called an integration panel. MRMC requested that the Institute of
Medicine (IOM) produce two reports assessing present scientific knowI-
edge about TSEs and recommending the highest-priority research for fund-
ing (Department of Army Contract DAMD17-02-C-0094, May 20021.
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7
In Tune 2002, IOM formed the Committee on Transmissible
Spongiform Encephalopathies: Assessment of Relevant Science to conduct
this study. The committee was charged with evaluating the state of prion
science, especially as regards research needs in the area of diagnostics. The
members of the committee were asked to examine novel technologies that
might advance diagnostics; evaluate the reagents and assays used in prion
research and recommend improvements; evaluate the adequacy of the TSE
research infrastructure in the United States with respect to the number of
investigators, physical facilities, and training needs; suggest opportunities
for collaboration with foreign investigators; evaluate the threat of TSEs to
U.S. military forces with respect to their food supply, their blood supply,
and any other factors; provide advice on public health policies or surveil-
lance programs that require new research or that might affect the military;
and recommend additional research on ways to reduce or prevent TSEs.
The committee's first report, released in January 2003, advised
MRMC's integration pane! on the most promising avenues of research for
developing antemortem TSE diagnostic tests. It also recommended ways to
remedy key shortcomings in the U.S. infrastructure for TSE research and
evaluated the degree of risk posed by TSEs to U.S. military forces and their
dependents stationed abroad. This, the committee's second report, recom-
mends the highest-priority research in TSE surveillance, prevention, and
therapy. It includes an updated version of the material from the first report,
with an additional chapter on the unique challenges of detecting TSE infec-
tivity in blood. This summary presents the committee's conclusions and
recommendations, which are also listed in Table S-1.
Clearly, we believe all the recommendations in this report are impor-
tant. Given that NPRP has a limited amount of resources, however, it can
act only on a limited number of recommendations each fiscal year. There-
fore, we prioritized our recommendations by placing them in one of three
ranks, 1 being the highest (see Table S-11. We assigned approximately a
third of the recommendations to each rank. The rankings are based on the
following criteria:
· Impact on public health
· Impact on protecting animal health (mainly cattle)
· Impact on protecting the U.S. economy (BSE/CWD)
· Impact on advancing scientific understanding of prions (potential
for breakthroughs)
· The need to accomplish first rather than second (stepwise progres-
sion of the science)
· Return on investment
· Likelihood of success (How feasible is it?)
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ADVANCING PRION SCIENCE
In addition to prioritizing all of our recommendations, we indicate in the
body of the report the most urgent and critical areas of research related to
recommendations 3.1 and 6.4.
PRIONS AND PrPSC: DEFINITIONS AND USAGE
This report uses the terms prion and PrPSc interchangeably in reference
to the pro/ease-resistant protein associated with prion disease.2 The com-
mittee is sensitive to the fact that such usage is controversial, however, so
we want to explain our choice of words in the context of this controversy.
The proteins PrPSc and prpC are both encoded by the PRNP gene on
chromosome 20 in humans. Like all proteins, prpC has a characteristic con-
formation. Under certain conditions, however, it folds into an abnormal
shape that is associated with fatal neurodegeneration after a long incuba-
tion period. This misfolded protein is called PrPSc.
The committee believes that the preponderance of scientific evidence
favors the hypothesis that priors, consisting of PrPSc, are associated with
infection in TSEs. If prion aggregates are the infectious agent that causes
TSEs and if a prion is the misfolded protein known as PrPSc, then by parallel
reasoning, aggregates of PrPSc are the infectious agent of TSEs.
However, some reputable TSE experts believe that PrPSc alone may not
be sufficient to cause a TSE infection, although the protein may be associ-
ated with and even necessary for such infection. A number of these investi-
gators hypothesize that the infectious particle the prion may contain hid-
den nucleic acid, additional proteins, or some other additional, essential
material. This camp uses the term prion to refer to TSE infectivity, but does
not equate prion with PrPSc. To respect and recognize this point of view,
this report often uses the phrase "the infectious agent of ELSE under discus-
sion]" instead of the term prion or PrPSc.
The purpose of this report is not to resolve the controversy over the
definition of a prion or to proffer the committee's opinion regarding the
hypothesis that prions consist exclusively of the protein PrPSc. Rather, the
purpose of this report is to call for additional research especially studies
of the fundamental molecular structures and mechanisms related to TSEs-
so that disparate views may converge and advance prion science.
2At times an additional term, PrPreS, is used synonymously with PrPSc. PrPreS is an abnor-
mally folded prion protein that is highly resistant to digestion by the enzyme proteinase K (PK)
and is strongly associated with prion disease. Unlike PrPreS, however, PrPSc demonstrates a
gradient of resistance to PK. PrPSc is associated with infectious potential and with prion disease
even in circumstances where it may be sensitive to PK digestion.
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9
BASIC BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH
The committee determined that the main obstacle to developing sensi-
tive, specific antemortem diagnostics for TSEs is the lack of knowledge
about prions and their normal cellular isoform, PrPC.
Recommendation 3.1:3 Fund basic research to elucidate (1) the
structural features of priors, (2) the molecular mechanisms of prion
replication, (3) the mechanisms of pathogenesis of transmissible
spongiform encephalopathies, and (4) the physiological function of
prpc.
The committee believes basic research in these four areas will supply
the knowledge required to advance TSE diagnostics more quickly than ap-
plied research alone. The report text describes specific gaps in knowledge
that need to be filled in each of the four areas.
For instance, present models of prion conformation and tertiary struc-
ture are neither complete nor conclusive. Defining the structural differences
between PrP isoforms could enable scientists to synthesize a PrPSc-specific
antibody probe or aptamer. Defining the structures of prpC and PrPSc at the
sites where they interact during binding and conformational change could
support the development of molecules that would block those interactions.
Most experts believe the conversion of prpC to PrPSc and the accumula-
tion of prions require the assistance of one or more molecules (Caughey,
2001) that may be easier to detect than prions themselves. These unidenti-
fied ancillary or chaperoning factors could serve as surrogate markers for
prion detection and as drug targets for TSE therapeutics and prophylaxes.
Current gaps in knowledge of the pathogenesis of prion diseases pre-
vent better characterization of diagnostic targets and strategies. The routes
of transmission, the factors that influence host susceptibility, the lack of an
immune response, the mechanisms of neuroinvasion, and the cause or causes
of cellular toxicity all lack satisfactory explanations; filling these gaps would
result in tests with greater sensitivity and specificity. In addition, isolating
the multiprotein complexes that contain prions might make it possible to
identify new cofactors important to the formation and stabilization of PrPSc
and infectivity.
Understanding the normal role of prpC might also reveal associated
molecules and pathways that would be appropriate detection targets for
TSE diagnostics. Investigators should clarify whether the basis for nerve cell
dysfunction and death in prion disease is related to the toxicity of PrPSc, to
3For ease of reference, the committee's recommendations are numbered according to the
chapter of the report in which they appear. For instance, recommendation 3.1 is the first
recommendation in Chapter 3.
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10
ADVaNCING PRION SCIENCE
the loss of function of prpC as a result of its conversion to PrPSC and its
aggregation during a prion infection, or to other factors.
Finally, the committee concluded that too great a focus on applied
rather than basic research would slow progress in TSE diagnostics.
TSE DL\GNOSllCS
Obstacles to Developing Antemortem Diagnostics for TSEs
Conventional methods used to diagnose most infectious diseases, such
as malaria, tuberculosis, hepatitis, and AIDS, fail to detect prion diseases
for numerous reasons. First, a prion is a host protein with an altered con-
formation such that the immune system does not recognize it as foreign and
does not produce antibodies against it. Second, since a prion lacks DNA
and RNA, it cannot be identified by molecular methods such as polymerase
chain reaction and other nucleic acid-based tests, nor can it be identified by
such customary methods as direct visualization under a light microscope,
cultivation in the laboratory, or detection of specific antibodies or antigens
by standard immunological methods. Moreover, prions are largely in-
soluble, distributed unevenly in body tissues, and found in a limited set of
tissues by currently available tests. PrPSc is neurotropic, so it ultimately
affects cells of nervous system tissues. Yet where and how PrPSc progresses
through the body before its final assault on the nervous system are largely
unclear, complicating the ability to locate and detect it.
In addition, the similarities between prions and the normal host cellular
protein prpC pose a fundamental problem. Since it is normal to find prpC in
healthy individuals, detection tests must differentiate between the normal
and abnormal prion protein molecules. The most common strategy thus far
has been to mix the test material with the proteinase K enzyme (PK), which
digests normal prion protein but only a portion of the abnormally folded
protein. Various techniques are then used to detect the residual PrPSc after
digestion. This process incidentally reduces the small amount of original
PrPSc captured, however, making the process less sensitive than the newer
experimental methods that do not rely on PK digestion.
The fact that only small amounts of abnormal prion protein may be
available for detection in accessible living tissues such as blood, urine, and
cerebrospinal fluid challenges diagnosticians to develop a sufficiently sensi-
tive test. Such a test must differentiate not only between normal and abnor-
mal prion proteins, but also, for some purposes, between one or more strains
of PrPSc a challenge resulting from basic deficiencies in the understanding
of prion strain diversity and the nature of strain variation. The ultimate
objective of a prion detection test is to detect a single infectious unit while
avoiding a false-positive test result.
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11
Presently Available TSE Diagnostics
The diagnostic assays available today are generally used only after the
death of an animal or person. These assays test brain tissue, where the
greatest concentrations of prions are found during the terminal stage of
disease. Standard histopathological and immunohistochemical techniques
are used to view the tissue microscopically and identify characteristic vacu-
oles, plaques, or other abnormal features and staining associated with prion
diseases. The standard confirmatory test is the Western blot.
Attempts made to date to develop accurate, rapid, and highly sensitive
antemortem tests, especially for detecting prions early in the course of infec-
tion, have largely failed. Also, most tests still involve PK digestion, and the
specificity and sensitivity of tests that do not use PK require further demon-
stration. Newer tests appear to have improved the limits of detection. As of
this writing, however, most of the newer detection methods are experimen-
tal and have not been independently verified and reported. Moreover, the
sensitivity of these tests must still be improved by several orders of magni-
tude if they are to reliably detect an infectious unit of priors.
Recommendation 4.1: Fund research to clevelop new assays most
likely to achieve quantum leaps in the quality of prion detection
tools, rather than incremental improvements to existing tests. Any
efforts to improve existing tests shouic! aim to increase their sensi-
tivities by several orclers of magnitude (at least 103~. The optimal
test shouic! detect less than 1 infectious unit (IU) of PrPSc per unit of
ultimate product used (e.g., 1 liter of blooc! or 100 grams of beefl.
Recommendation 4.2: Fund research to improve in vitro tech-
niques that amplify small amounts of PrPSc to enhance the sensitivi-
· ~ · ~
ties ot c Agnostic tests.
The Need for Novel Approaches to Developing TSE Diagnostics
Major improvements in TSE diagnostics must await the availability of
novel testing techniques or of reagents designed to specifically target PrPSc.
Recommendation 4.3: Fund research to clevelop novel methods and
reagents that detect or bind to priors, inclucling new antibodies,
pepticles, nucleic acids, synthetic derivatives, and chimeric mol-
ecules. This research couic! leac! not only to better diagnostics, but
also to better therapeutic and prophylactic strategies.
Researchers have attempted a variety of novel ways to improve the
sensitivities of tests for TSEs. The most promising of these techniques are
summarized below.
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12
Surrogate Markers
ADVANCING PRION SCIENCE
A strategy other than the direct detection of PrPSc is to detect surrogate
markers of prion infection. Cells that have been injured by prion invasion
may produce other unique proteins or protein mixes that can be detected.
The committee determined that the rapidly expanding field of proteomics
may offer new tools for the development of highly sensitive prion detection
tests employing such surrogate markers. This strategy is being used success-
fully for the detection of certain cancers (Petricoin et al., 2002a,b), and the
committee recommends that it be applied to TSEs.
Recommendation 4.4: Fund research to identify surrogate markers
or signatures for the detection of prions or prion diseases.
Prion Amplification
As indicated in recommendation 4.2, the committee also sees promise
in strategies for amplification of PrPSc material before further testing
(Saborio et al., 20011. Analogous to the polymerase chain reaction tech-
nique for amplifying small amounts of DNA, these strategies could signifi-
cantly boost the power of prion diagnostics.
Cell Culture Assays
In vitro culture systems have been used for prion detection with moder-
ate success. Yet the committee believes these assays would hold great prom-
ise if a stable and robust cell culture assay were developed. Their speed and
biological simplicity would make them highly effective in testing for TSEs.
Recommendation 4.5: Fund research to improve techniques for
propagating prions in cultured cells and develop new in vitro cell
systems as a means to assay and study priors.
Clinical Diagnostics
Although clinical criteria for the characterization of prion diseases have
been established, they are adjunctive at present. Neuroimaging offers prom-
ise as a future clinical diagnostic too! for prion diseases. The committee
concluded that newer magnetic resonance imaging techniques, positron
emission tomography scanning applications, and multiphoton microscopy
should be developed for antemortem detection of TSEs.
Recommendation 4.6: Fund research to develop functional imag-
ing for the presence of PrPSc in brain tissue, leading to an early
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SUMMAR Y
diagnostic test similar to the imaging diagnostics being developed
for Alzbeimer's disease.
TESTING BLOOD FOR EVIDENCE OF TSEs
13
The ability to detect prions in blood would enable diagnosis and treat-
ment of a TSE at an early stage of the disease, ideally before neuroinvasion.
It would also allow a TSE-infected donor to be identified and deferred be-
fore his or her blood is taken and administered to others as whole blood, a
blood product, or a blood derivative. In addition, a test for TSE infectivity
in blood could allow donors currently deferred because of potential expo-
sure to a TSE agent to reenter the donor pool. In animals, such a test would
permit early recognition of infection and timely control procedures. The
committee believes the development of a screening test for detecting prions
in blood is desirable for all these reasons, but will be extremely challenging
to accomplish.
The findings of TSE transmission studies in animals give reason to be-
lieve that prions can be found in blood (Brown, 20011. Most of those stud-
ies used the most sensitive form of in viva assay, an injection of blood
directly into the brain, to see whether the animals would become infected;
some did. In addition, a limited number of studies showed that blood from
infected animals could infect by the intravenous route. Those studies more
closely simulate exposure by blood transfusion. Recent compelling studies
in sheep demonstrated that both the BSE and scrapie agents could be trans-
mitted to other sheep by blood transfusion (Hunter et al., 2002), support-
ing the hypothesis that blood can serve as reservoir for infectious priors.
Multiple transmission and case-control studies have failed to demon-
strate that blood from patients with sporadic Creutzfel~t-Takob disease
(sCTD) is infectious (Brown et al., 19941. By contrast, investigations into
the transmissibility of the vCTD agent through blood transfusion are just
beginning to gain momentum. Because a significant amount of prions ap-
pears in the lymphoreticular system in vCTD cases but not in other varieties
of human TSEs, the blood of vCTD-infected individuals may contain priors.
The amount of vCTD prions that might be contained in blood and the
amount that constitutes an IU are important public health questions. The
committee concluded that there is a small but unknown level of risk of
acquiring vCTD from blood products; therefore, more research to clarify
the nature of that risk should be conducted.
Recommendation 5.1: Fund research (1 ) to determine the amount
of sporadic Creutzfel~t-lakob disease (sCID) prions and variant
Creutzfel~t-Jakob disease (vCJD) prions in human blood and (2) to
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4
ADVANCING PRION SCIENCE
estimate the amount of PrPSc corresponding to one infectious unit
of sCID and vCID prions in human blood.
The technical feat of developing a prototype test to detect low, and
possibly changing, levels of prions in blood is an enormous challenge. But
that is only one of the steps necessary to field a new commercial blood-
screening test. To avoid false-positive test results, multiple testing schemes
should be developed so that results can be confirmed or refuted. Stable,
standard, and reliable testing reagents should be developed. Biotechnology
companies must be properly structured to successfully mass-produce a novel
test. Users will need to develop ethically sound counseling and notification
policies for those tested, especially to deal with positive tests. Developers
will need to demonstrate and document the test's performance rigorously
enough to achieve FDA approval. Finally, a market for the product must
exist, or be created, to attract commercial investment and manufacturing.
These tasks are achievable with great resolve.
SURVEILLANCE FOR TSEs IN THE UNITED STATES
Surveillance for TSEs in humans and animals can permit the detection
of potential outbreaks of known or new TSEs and the monitoring of those
TSEs known to occur in the United States: CWD and scrapie in animals,
and sCJD, iatrogenic CJD (iCJD), familial CJD, familial fatal insomnia,
sporadic fatal insomnia, and Gerstmann-Straussler-Scheinker disease in
humans.
Surveillance for TSEs in Humans
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) monitors the
U.S. population for human TSEs. It also conducts surveillance specifically
for vC}D (Belay et al., 2003), even though there has never been a reported
case of BSE in the United States. Human TSEs are reportable in 12 states.
Identification and Autopsy of TSE Cases
The diagnosis of TSE in humans almost always requires a neuropatho-
logical examination. These examinations are conducted for the U.S. popu-
lation by the National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center
(NPDPSC). Yet at least half of the estimated total number of deaths caused
by TSE in the United States are not autopsied and confirmed by laboratory
examination (Gambetti, 2002; Holman et al., 1996~. The committee con-
cluded that the large percentage of undiagnosed TSE cases represents a
major obstacle to thorough U.S. surveillance for human TSEs. Physicians
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SUMMAR Y
15
and public health officials need to identify more suspected TSE cases, and
more of those cases should be autopsied and sent to NPDPSC for neuro-
pathological examination.
As noted earlier, the knowledge that BSE can cross the species barrier
into humans has generated concern that CWD, which is epidemic in U.S.
deer and elk, could potentially infect humans as well. If so, the human form
of CWD could manifest itself clinically in a form quite unlike that of the
known human TSEs. Therefore, the committee believes it would be prudent
for CDC to conduct TSE surveillance on all atypical cases of
neurodegenerative disease.
Recommendation 6.1: Provide funds to promote an increase in the
proportion of cases of human neurodegenerative disease, especially
suspected cases of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy, that
are recognized and autopsied.
Epidemiological Research on Human TSEs
Improving U.S. surveillance for human TSEs will also depend on infor-
mation gleaned from epidemiological studies that help define the target
population and hone survey instruments.
Recommendation 6.2: Provide funds to increase the number and
diversity of epidemiological studies on human transmissible
spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) in the United States. In par-
ticular, support research to identify potential cases of variant
Creutzfel~t-lakob disease and new human TSEs possibly caused by
the agent of chronic wasting disease.
Surveillance for TSEs in Animals
Chronic Wasting Disease
Although CWD has existed in deer and elk in Colorado and Wyoming
since at least the 1960s (Miller et al., 2000; Williams and Young, 1980), the
disease has apparently4 spread to captive and free-ranging herds in 10 other
states and two Canadian provinces since 1996 (Fischer and Nettles, 2003;
Williams and Miller, 20021. Nationwide surveillance for CWD is improv-
ing thanks to increased awareness of the disease and the availability of
more resources, including a network of USDA laboratories that conduct
neuropathological examinations on possible and probable CWD cases.
4It is also possible that increased awareness of CWD has brought preexisting cases to light
for the first time.
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22
ADVANCING PRION SCIENCE
proteomics, building a stronger foundation for future endeavors to de-
velop TSE therapeutics.
The committee believes the most promising candidates for near-term
therapeutics are synthetic products such as peptides, antibodies, or anti-
body fragments (scFvs) that bind to specific epitopes on prpC or PrPSc and
disrupt further PrP conversion (Enari et al., 2001; Heppner et al., 2001;
Peretz et al., 2001; Sigurdsson et al., 2003; White et al., 20031. To realize
the promise of these synthetic products, researchers will need to uncover
and target specific structural sites on PrPC, PrPSc, or intermediate molecules
involved in PrP conversion.
Recommendation 7.7: Fund research to develop new therapeutic
agents, including antibodies, that either block the conversion of
prpc to PrPSc or disrupt the molecular mechanisms of pathogenesis
of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies after this conversion
has taken place. The most promising approach appears to be ra-
tional drug design, which begins with knowledge of the tertiary
structure of the protein or molecule that the therapeutic agent will
target.
The clues that lead to success in diagnostics will help uncover new thera-
peutic agents. Likewise, having preclinical diagnostic tests for TSEs will
make early treatment and a better prognosis possible.
RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURE
The committee determined that prion science would advance more rap-
idly in the United States if more investigators worked in this small research
community and if more funds were consistently available. The U.S. infra-
structure for TSE research, though of high quality, is small compared with
its European counterpart. At present fewer than 20 principal investigators
conduct prion research funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH),
the largest sponsor of TSE research in the United States. In fiscal year 2002,
NIH spent $27.2 million of its total budget of $23.2 billion on TSE research
(personal communication, R. Zalusky, National Institute of Neurological
Disorders and Stroke, May 27, 20031. Furthermore, 75 percent of the NIH
funds awarded for TSE research go to only two laboratories (personal
communication, R. T. Johnson, special consultant to NIH on TSEs, 20021.
Investigators and Facilities
It has been difficult to attract new investigators to prion research for
several reasons. First is the lack of available laboratory space and the high
start-up costs associated with setting up a TSE research laboratory. Such
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23
laboratories have special containment requirements and rely on costly labo-
ratory animals and dedicated equipment that cannot be shared with other
researchers because of concerns about cross-contamination. Second, confu-
sion exists within the TSE research community about biosafety-level (BSL)
requirements. Formal standards should replace the presently informal and
inconsistent guidance in this area. Third, it often takes years to reach ex-
perimental end points because prion diseases have relatively long incuba-
tion periods. This makes it difficult to attract doctoral and postdoctoral
fellows, whose academic programs last for a relatively short time.
Recommendation 8.1: Provide funds to attract and train more in-
vestigators in prion disease research. In addition, for investigators
conducting prion bioassay research, provide grants for 5- to 7-year
periods.
Recommendation 8.2: Provide funds to boost the capacity of the
U.S. infrastructure for research on transmissible spongiform en-
cephalopathies by expanding or upgrading existing laboratories,
animal facilities, and containment laboratories (biological safety
levels 2 and 3), and by building new ones.
Recommendation 8.3: Provide funds to develop scientifically based
biological safety level standards for laboratories conducting re-
search that involves infectious agents known to cause transmissible
spongiform encephalopathies.
If embraced by the community of organizations that fund TSE research,
nationwide BSL standards could serve as a common, consistent framework
for regulations governing laboratory biosafety for the full spectrum of TSE
research.
Reagents
Because prion biology is a relatively new science, many of the reagents
and other materials used by investigators are not commercially available, so
each laboratory has needed to produce its own. Consequently, standardiza-
tion of these reagents and materials across different laboratories or even
within the same laboratory is lacking. As a result, the experimental conclu-
sions reported by investigators can be difficult to replicate and easy to chal-
lenge. The committee views this as an area that would benefit from atten-
tion and funding.
Recommendation 8.4: Provide funds to support new or established
transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) repositories that
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24
ADVANCING PRION SCIENCE
contain a collection of reference materials and genetically engi-
neered animals (including transgenic mice), as well as reagents use-
ful for developing TSE diagnostics and for other TSE research. All
registered investigators involved in prion research should have ac-
cess to these collections.
Recommendation 8.5: Provide funds to support the U.S. Food and
Drug Administration's development of panels of reference reagents
needed to evaluate the performance characteristics of tests designed
to detect the prion protein and TSE infectivity. These panels would
be used to confirm the performance characteristics of test kits be-
fore they are approved for public use, as well as to perform quality
control on test kit lots before their release to the market.
International Collaboration
An additional strategy to improve TSE research capacity is to find more
opportunities for U.S. researchers to work with investigators in Europe and
elsewhere. The committee believes that exploiting opportunities for U.S.
investigators to conduct TSE research on site in a European laboratory or
to work in a collaborative fashion with a European investigator on a joint
research project is not only feasible but also highly desirable.
Recommendation 8.6: Provide funds to enable U.S.-based investi-
gators of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) to col-
laborate or train with TSE investigators internationally and to use
TSE research facilities abroad. Exploiting such opportunities will
expand the range of TSE research that U.S. scientists can conduct.
THE RISK OF TSEs TO THE U.S. MILITARY
The committee deliberated upon the risk of prion infection to members
of the U.S. military and their families who are or have been deployed to
Europe. Discussions focused mainly on the possibilities for consumption of
beef products or transfusion of blood products contaminated by priors.
The food and blood supplies of deployed U.S. troops are closely controlled
and generally originate at U.S. sources. However, some beef products sold
in U.S. military commissaries and post exchanges (commonly known as
PXs) in Europe were procured from suppliers in the United Kingdom and
continental Europe that later reported cases of BSE among their livestock.
In exceptional circumstances, some therapeutic blood is also obtained from
a host nation's medical facilities.
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SUMMAR Y
25
The committee determined that the U.S. military is at an increased risk
for acquiring vCTD as a result of its deployment to Europe. However, that
risk was judged to be small and certainly less than that of the local popula-
tion in the United Kingdom and other European countries reporting BSE.
Recommendation 9.1: Use existing passive surveillance systems to
monitor the incidence of Creutzfel~t-lakob disease and variant
Creutzfel~t-lakob disease among individuals receiving medical care
from the health systems of the U.S. Department of Defense and the
Department of Veterans Affairs.
CONCLUSION
This final report of the IOM Committee on Transmissible Spongiform
Encephalopathies: Assessment of Relevant Science provides an unprec-
edented overview of the ways in which TSEs impact human and animal
health from donated blood to deer hunting. The committee's recommen-
dations are intended to provide guidance to the NPRP on the most pressing
TSE research needs. This report should also serve as a useful reference for
those interested in TSEs worldwide. Educated laypeople, physicians, scien-
tists, and TSE experts should all find herein relevant and readable informa-
tion about deadly diseases that appear to be caused by a new and mysteri-
ous biological mechanism.
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26
ADVANCING PRION SCIENCE
TABLE S-1 Committee Recommendations by Functional Area and
Priority for the National Prion Research Program
Recommendation
Priority
(1 = highest)
Basic Research
3.1 Fund basic research to elucidate:
(1) the structural features of prions
(2) the molecular mechanisms of prion replication
(3) the mechanisms of pathogenesis of transmissible spongiform
encephalopathies
(4) the physiological function of prpC
Improving Diagnostics
Fund research to:
1
4.1 Develop new assays most likely to achieve quantum leaps in the
quality of prion detection tools, rather than incremental improve-
ments to existing tests. Any efforts to improve existing tests should
aim to increase their sensitivities by several orders of magnitude (at
least 103). The optimal test should detect less than 1 infectious unit
(IU) of PrPSc per unit of ultimate product used (e.g., 1 liter of blood or
100 grams of beef).
1
4.2 Improve in vitro techniques that amplify small amounts of PrPSc to
enhance the sensitivities of diagnostic tests.
4.3 Develop novel methods and reagents that detect or bind to priors, 1
including new antibodies, peptides, nucleic acids, synthetic derivatives,
and chimeric molecules. This research could lead not only to better
diagnostics, but also to better therapeutic and prophylactic strategies.
4.4 Identify surrogate markers or signatures for the detection of prions or 3
.
prlon c .lseases.
4.5 Improve techniques for propagating prions in cultured cells and
develop new in vitro cell systems as a means to assay and study priors.
4.6 Develop functional imaging for the presence of PrPSc in brain tissue,
leading to an early diagnostic test similar to the imaging diagnostics being
developed for Alzheimer's disease.
Testing Blood for Evidence of TSEs
3
5.1 Fund research (1) to determine the amount of sporadic Creutzleldt- 1
Jakob disease (sCJD) prions and variant Creutzleldt-Jakob disease
(vCJD) prions in human blood and (2) to estimate the amount of
PrPSc corresponding to one infectious unit of sCJD and vCJD prions
in human blood.
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SUMMAR Y
TABLE S-1 Continued
27
Recommendation
Priority
(1 = highest)
U.S. Surveillance for TSEs
Provide funds to:
6.1 Promote an increase in the proportion of cases of human
neurodegenerative disease, especially suspected cases of transmissible
spongiform encephalopathy, that are recognized and autopsied.
6.2 Increase the number and diversity of epidemiological studies on
human transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) in the
United States. In particular, support research to identify potential
cases of variant Creutzieldt-Jakob disease and new human TSEs
possibly caused by the agent of chronic wasting disease.
2
2
6.3 Support the development of a nationwide surveillance system for 2
chronic wasting disease in the United States.
6.4 Expand research on the natural history, prevalence, distribution,
exposure and transmission characteristics, host susceptibility, and host
range of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, especially
chronic wasting disease.
Assessment of Strategies to Prevent and Treat TSEs
7.1 Fund research to improve rapid, accurate, and affordable screening
assays for central nervous system (CNS) tissue such that the assays
can specifically identify CNS material from cattle in processed meat
products.
1
7.2 Fund risk assessments that characterize the exposure of hunters, 3
cervid processing establishments, and consumers to the infectious
agent of chronic wasting disease.
Fund research to:
7.3 Develop novel methods for removing prions from or inactivating
prions in blood products and tissues in vitro, using physical, chemical,
or immune mechanisms alone or in combination.
7.4 Develop standard assays for the detection of PrPSc or TSE infectivity
on the surfaces of reusable medical instruments and materials, as well
as research to develop better methods to disinfect such instruments
and materials.
2
2
7.5 Develop standard test methods for detecting prion contamination in 3
environmental samples.
Continued
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28
TABLE S-1 Continued
ADVANCING PRION SCIENCE
Recommendation
Priority
(1 = highest)
7.6 Identify safe, cost-effective disposal mechanisms for animals and
rendered waste infected with agents of transmissible spongiform
encephalopathies. This research would best be conducted with a
multidisciplinary approach involving experts in such fields as prion
biology, biochemistry, environmental engineering, and commercial
disposal technology.
7.7 Develop new therapeutic agents, including antibodies, that either
block the conversion of prpC to PrPSc or disrupt the molecular
mechanisms of pathogenesis of transmissible spongiform encephalopa-
thies after this conversion has taken place. The most promising
approach appears to be rational drug design, which begins with
knowledge of the tertiary structure of the protein or molecule that the
therapeutic agent will target.
Prion Research Infrastructure
Provide funds to:
8.1 Attract and train more investigators in prion disease research. In
addition, for investigators conducting prion bioassay research, provide
grants for 5- to 7-year periods.
1
8.2 Boost the capacity of the U.S. infrastructure for research on transmis-
sible spongiform encephalopathies by expanding or upgrading existing
laboratories, animal facilities, and containment laboratories (biologi-
cal safety levels 2 and 3), and by building new ones.
Provide funds to:
8.3 Develop scientifically based biological safety level standards for
laboratories conducting research that involves infectious agents
known to cause transmissible spongiform encephalopathies.
8.4 Support new or established transmissible spongiform encephalopathy
(TSE) repositories that contain a collection of reference materials and
genetically engineered animals (including transgenic mice), as well as
reagents useful for developing TSE diagnostics and for other TSE
research. All registered investigators involved in prion research should
have access to these collections.
8.5 Support the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's development of
panels of reference reagents needed to evaluate the performance
characteristics of tests designed to detect the prion protein and TSE
2
3
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SUMMAR Y
TABLE S-1 Continued
29
Recommendation
Priority
(1 = highest)
infectivity. These panels would be used to confirm the performance
characteristics of test kits before they are approved for public use, as
well as to perform quality control on test kit lots before their release
to the market.
8.6 Enable U.S.-based investigators of transmissible spongiform encepha-
lopathies (TSEs) to collaborate or train with TSE investigators
internationally and to use TSE research facilities abroad. Exploiting
such opportunities will expand the range of TSE research that U.S.
. .
scientists can cone uct.
Risks to the U.S. Military
9.1 Use existing passive surveillance systems to monitor the incidence of
Creutzieldt-Jakob disease and variant Creutzieldt-Jakob disease among
individuals receiving medical care from the health systems of the U.S.
Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs.
3
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Representative terms from entire chapter:
tse research
