Premium
Removal of exogenous prion infectivity in leukoreduced red blood cells unit by a specific filter designed for human transfusion
Author(s) -
LescoutraEtchegaray Nathalie,
Sumian Chryslain,
Culeux Audrey,
Durand Valérie,
Gurgel Patrick V.,
Deslys JeanPhilippe,
Comoy Emmanuel E.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
transfusion
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.045
H-Index - 132
eISSN - 1537-2995
pISSN - 0041-1132
DOI - 10.1111/trf.12420
Subject(s) - infectivity , virology , hamster , blood transfusion , whole blood , human blood , incubation period , leukoreduction , scrapie , biology , medicine , incubation , immunology , physiology , disease , pathology , virus , prion protein , biochemistry
Background Five cases of variant C reutzfeldt‐ J akob disease ( vCJD ) infections were attributed to infusion of contaminated blood components, turning to real the interhuman transmissibility of this prion disease from asymptomatic carriers. Preventive policies rely on exclusion from blood donation and benefit of leukoreduction initially implemented against leukotropic viruses. In the absence of available antemortem diagnostic tests, the updated prevalence of silent vCJD infections (1/2000 in the U nited K ingdom) urges the necessity to enforce blood safety with more efficient active measures able to remove the remaining infectivity. Study Design and Methods Several affinity resins were demonstrated to reduce high levels of brain‐spiked infectivity from human leukoreduced red blood cells ( L ‐ RBCs ). One was integrated in a device adapted to field constraints (volumes, duration) of human transfusion. We assessed here the ability of the resulting removal filter, termed P ‐ C apt, to remove infectivity from human L ‐ RBC units spiked with scrapie‐infected hamster brain (≥10,000 infectious units/ mL ), through inoculation of hamsters with pre‐ and post–blood filtration samples. Results Incubation periods of recipient animals suggest around a 3‐log removal of brain‐derived prion infectivity by filtration through the P ‐ C apt. Conclusion On brain‐derived spiked infectivity, the P ‐ C apt filter provided a performance similar to the resin packed in columns used for initial proof‐of‐concept studies, suggesting an appropriate scale‐up to efficiently remove infectivity from an individual human blood bag. According to the ability of resin to completely remove apparent endogenous infectivity from hamster leukoreduced blood, the implementation of such a filter, now commercially available, might seriously improve blood safety toward prions.