Unmet needs of biochemical biomarkers for human prion diseases

ABSTRACT

Although the development of aggregation assays has noticeably improved the accuracy of the clinical diagnosis of prion diseases, research on biomarkers remains vital. The major challenges to overcome are non-invasive sampling and the exploration of new biomarkers that may predict the onset or reflect disease progression. This will become extremely important in the near future, when new therapeutics are clinically evaluated and eventually become available for treatment. This article aims to provide an overview of the achievements of biomarker research in human prion diseases, addresses unmet needs in the field, and points out future perspectives.

Keywords:

• Biomarkers
• cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers
• Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
• diagnosis
• disease onset
• prion diseases

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Author contribution statement

IZ and PH were involved in the conception and design, the drafting of the paper, revising it critically for intellectual content. IZ and PH give the final approval of the version to be published. All authors agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

Data availability statement

Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analysed for this narrative review article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was funded by the Robert Koch Institute through funds from the Federal Ministry of Health (grant no. 1369–341).