Standardization of Data Analysis for RT-QuIC-Based Detection of Chronic Wasting Disease

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a disease affecting cervids and is caused by prions accumulating as pathogenic fibrils in lymphoid tissue and the central nervous system. Approaches for detecting CWD prions historically relied on antibody-based assays. However, recent advancements in protein amplification technology provided the foundation for a new class of CWD diagnostic tools. In particular, real-time quaking-induced conversion (RT-QuIC) has rapidly become a feasible option for CWD diagnosis. Despite its increased usage for CWD-focused research, there lacks a consensus regarding the interpretation of RT-QuIC data for diagnostic purposes. It is imperative then to identify a standardized and replicable method for determining CWD status from RT-QuIC data. Here, we assessed variables that could impact RT-QuIC results and explored the use of maxpoint ratios (maximumRFU/backgroundRFU) to improve the consistency of RT-QuIC analysis. We examined a variety of statistical analyses to retrospectively analyze CWD status based on RT-QuIC and ELISA results from 668 white-tailed deer lymph nodes. Our results revealed an MPR threshold of 2.0 for determining the rate of amyloid formation, and MPR analysis showed excellent agreement with independent ELISA results. These findings suggest that the use of MPR is a statistically viable option for normalizing between RT-QuIC experiments and defining CWD status.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number309
JournalPathogens
Volume12
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 2023

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Funding was provided by the Minnesota State Legislature through the Minnesota Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR), Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station Rapid Agricultural Response Fund, the University of Minnesota Office of Vice President for Research, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, and start-up funds awarded to P.A.L. through the Minnesota Agricultural, Research, Education, Extension, and Technology Transfer (AGREETT) program.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 by the authors.

Keywords

  • chronic wasting disease
  • diagnostics
  • ELISA
  • maxpoint ratio
  • prion
  • real-time quaking-induced conversion
  • RT-QuIC

PubMed: MeSH publication types

  • Journal Article

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