Evaluation of urinary PrPSc as a diagnostic test for sporadic, variant, and familial CJD.

Previously collected urine specimens from 100 patients referred to the UK National CJD Surveillance Unit as suspected cases of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) were analyzed, testing for abnormal prion protein (PrP(Sc)). In this context, the test had a low sensitivity and was not completely specific for CJD. Additionally, the proteins detected by this assay were not PrP(Sc) but appeared to be immunoglobulins.