Das zelluläre Prionprotein im Liquor cerebrospinalis von Patienten mit verschiedenen neurologischen Erkrankungen

We performed a study on levels of the cellular prion protein (PrPc) in humans affected by different neurological diseases and assessed the influence of several factors such as age, gender, disease severity and codon 129 genotype (CJD samples) on the cerebrospinal fluid PrPc levels. PrP-ELISA technique was used to analyze cerebrospinal fluid samples. 317 CSF samples of patients with neurodegenerative disorders such as CJD, Alzheimer`s disease (AD), Dementia with Lewy-bodies (DLB), Parkinson`s disease (PD), normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH) and non-neurodegenerative disorders such as Multiple Sclerosis, cerebral ischemia, generalized epileptic seizures and meningitis and encephalitis in comparison to controls were analyzed. We found a significant reduction of CSF PrPc levels in patients suffering from all neurodegenerative disorders analyzed. CSF levels correlated with disease severity in CJD, AD, DLB and NPH. Age-, gender- and genetic specific factors might be involved in the PrPc regulation. PrPc might be used as a diagnostic biomarker such as other commonly established biomarkers like Aβ1-42 and tau protein. Interestingly, we found significant correlations between PrPc and these two biomarkers.