Creutzfeldt Jakob disease: diagnostic value of protein 14-3-3 and neuronalspecific enolase assay in cerebrospinal fluid.

We studied the diagnostic value of:detecting protein 14-3-3 and of assaying neuronal specific enolase (NSE) in the cerebrospinal fluid of 150 patients with suspected sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease registered in an epidemi ology research program between 1991 and 1996. Sensitivity and specificity o f these two tests were high. This study confirms results reported earlier a nd authorizes a new definition of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease which gives pro tein 14-3-3 the same diagnostic value as EEG recordings for classifying spo radic cases.