Abnormal proteins in the cerebrospinal fluid of a patient with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease following administration of human pituitary growth hormone
Macário, M.E.; Moura-Neto, V.; Vaisman, M.; Araujo, H.M.; Buescu, A.; Cordeiro, J.G.; Chagas, C.
Brazilian Journal of Medical and Biological Research 25(11): 1127-1130
1992
ISSN/ISBN: 0100-879X PMID: 1342593 Document Number: 397672
A Brazilian case of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in a hypopituitary patient who had received cadaver-derived human pituitary growth hormone between 1968 and 1977 is reported. The clinical diagnosis was confirmed during his lifetime by the demonstration of two abnormal 30-kDa proteins in the cerebrospinal fluid by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. These proteins, characteristic of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, present isoelectric points of 5.1 and 5.2. Furthermore, both proteins migrate as doublets, each one displaying a molecular weight variant of about 29-kDa. This is one of 16 cases of the disease associated to therapy with cadaver-derived human growth hormone and one of the few examples among such cases of confirmation of the clinical diagnosis by biochemical characterization of abnormal proteins in the cerebrospinal fluid.