Plasminogen binds to disease-associated prion protein of multiple species

The protein-only hypothesis states that the causative agent of transmissibl e spongiform encephalopathies Is PrPSc, a conformer of the cellular protein PrPC. therefore, reagents differentiating between PrPC and PrPSc could be diagnostically useful. Plasminogen, when immobilised onto magnetic beads, s electively precipitates PrPSc from mice with prion Infected brains. We have shown that human plasminogen also precipitates PrPSc from brain homogenate of patients with sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, as well as from sheep with scrapie and cows of various breeds with bovine spongiform encephaloph athy (BSE), Our findings suggest that the binding of plasminogen to PrPSc c ould have diagnostic application.