Ligands Filter Abnormal Prions in Blood

A joint venture has developed a proprietary ligand molecule that binds to abnormal prion proteins and filters them out of plasma-derived protein to reduce any risk of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE). Details were presented at the annual conference of the European Plasma Fractionation Association in Edinburgh (UK).

The joint venture, called Pathogen Removal and Diagnostic Technologies, Inc. (PRDT), is composed of Prometic Life Sciences, Inc. (Montreal, Canada) and the American Red Cross (Washington, DC, USA). TSE is responsible for the transmission of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) and variant forms. The ligand will be initially employed in industrial preparation of plasma and plasma products, adding an extra removal step to the processing procedure and providing an increased margin of safety from TSE infectivity to recipients of plasma-derived products

A prion-reduction device to filter donor blood supplies on site at blood transfusion centers is under development. This device will aid blood transfusion services around the world to maintain the safety of blood and blood products from exposure to TSE from donors.

"In tests, PRDT's top ligands have proved remarkable in their ability to reduce abnormal prion protein levels in blood and highly concentrated plasma protein samples, even when the blood or protein concentrates were artificially contaminated with high concentrations of the infectious agent,” noted Dr. R. Rohwer, director of molecular neurovirology, University of Maryland (Baltimore, USA), who presented the data.





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Prometic
American Red Cross