CELLULAR SENSITIZATION IN KURU, JAKOB-CREUTZFELDT DISEASE AND MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS

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Abstract
Following i.m. injection of Kuru and Jakob-Creutzfeldt brain material into chimpanzees, circulating lymphocytes became sensitized to scrapie mouse brain (and spleen) to a greater degree than to normal tissue. This sensitization subsided after .apprx. 1 mo. and was followed 90 days later by a secondary peak attributed to establishment of CNS changes. Special sensitization to scrapie material occurs in Kuru and Jakob-Creutzfeldt disease, but is not specific to them. Parenchymatous destruction may precede astroglial hypertrophy in these diseases. An early peak occurred in animals [chimanzees] inoculated with multiple sclerosis [MS] brain and normal brain, but neither showed a delayed 2nd peak. There was no evidence of establishment of infection, although all 4 animals were in intimate contact for ever 200 days, and there was no evidence of the injection of MS material itself having established an infection. Biohazards in Kuru, Jakob-Creutzfeldt and MS work appear to be very low. The significance of the increased sensitization to scrapie material in Kuru and Jakob-Creutzfeldt disease, especially in relation to normal aging (where it also increases), is discussed.