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

在英国，四名患者在从感染了克雅氏病的献血者身上输血后，似乎患上了变异型克雅氏病（vCJD）。这些病例令人关注，因为献血者在献血时并没有表现出任何vCJD的临床症状。目前还不确定是否有更多的人在输入被vCJD污染的血液后也会发病，就像英国感染vCJD但没有表现出临床疾病的人数一样。这些因素目前使得诊断和预防vCJD进一步的人际传播极为困难。该项目旨在解决通过输血或血液制品传播vCJD的主要问题。我们的目的是评估vCJD通过血液传播的风险，并确定该疾病在人与人之间传播后是否发生了改变。例如，从一个人到另一个人的vCJD传播可能导致接受者的疾病更具侵袭性，针对不同的部位或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病原体如何污染血流，以及哪些血细胞或成分受到影响。该规划将为评估通过输血传播vCJD的风险，以及为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.