Mad cow test promises early diagnosis in humans and animals
31 January 2002
A British biotech firm yesterday (30 Jan 02) claimed it has won the world's first patent for a test to detect mad cow disease in blood and said it hopes to launch the breakthrough diagnostic kit in about a year.
Proteome Sciences Plc says its test, now covered by an Australian patent, could be used to screen national blood banks for vCJD as well as to diagnose disease in individuals and animals. At the moment, the only definitive way to detect mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), and its human version, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD), is by analysis of brain samples after death.
A simple blood test would allow doctors to confirm the disease earlier in patients showing symptoms and let vets monitor the condition in animals before slaughter.
Several biotech companies are chasing the goal of a blood test, but Christopher Pearce, chief executive of the Surrey-based group, believes Proteome Sciences is in the lead. "This is the first time there have been any patents issued in relation to the detection of variant CJD and BSE in blood".
The test works by detecting changes in prion proteins that occur in human and animal victims.
The human version of mad cow disease was first detected in 1996 by scientists who believe it is caught by eating BSE-contaminated beef.
So far, there have more than 100 cases of vCJD worldwide, nearly all of them in Britain.
www.proteome.co.uk

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