Assessing the risk of transmission of vCJD via blood transfusion and identifying potential for diagnosis and prevention

在英国，四名患者似乎在输血感染克雅氏病的献血者后患上了变异型克雅氏病(VCJD)。这些病例引起了人们的关注，因为献血者在献血时没有表现出任何vCJD的临床症状。目前还不确定是否会有更多的人在输血后也会患上vCJD污染的血液，英国感染vCJD但没有表现出临床疾病的人数也是不确定的。这些因素目前使诊断和预防vCJD在人与人之间进一步传播变得极其困难。该项目旨在解决有关通过输血或血液制品传播vCJD的主要问题。我们的目标是评估vCJD通过血液传播的风险，并确定这种疾病在人与人之间传播后是否发生了改变。例如，vCJD从一个人传播到另一个人可能会在接受者身上导致一种更具侵袭性的疾病，这种疾病针对不同的部位，或者在目前的实验室测试中看起来与原始疾病不同。我们还将研究vCJD制剂如何污染血流，以及哪些血细胞或成分受到影响。该方案将为评估vCJD通过输血传播的风险以及开发准确的诊断测试以防止vCJD进一步在人与人之间传播提供重要基础。

In the UK four patients appear to have developed variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) after transfusion of blood from a donors infected with vCJD. These cases raise concern as the blood donors did not show any clinical signs of vCJD at the time the blood donations were made. Whether many more individuals will also develop disease after transfusion of vCJD-contaminated blood is currently uncertain, as is the number of people in the UK infected with vCJD but not showing clinical disease. These factors currently make the diagnosis and prevention of further human to human transmissions of vCJD extremely difficult. This project aims to addresses the major issues surrounding the transmission of vCJD via transfusion of blood or blood products. We aim to assess the risk of transmission of vCJD by blood and to determine whether the disease is modified after human-to-human transmission. For example, transmission of vCJD from one human to another may result in a disease in the recipient that is more aggressive, that targets different sites or appears different from the original disease in current laboratory tests. We will also study how the vCJD agent contaminates the blood stream, and which blood cells or components are affected. This programme will provide an important basis for assessing the risk of vCJD transmission via blood transfusion, and for developing accurate diagnostic tests to prevent further human to human transmission of vCJD.