Figure 1.

Tohoku 2 (T2)–reactive PrP^res fragments in the cerebrums from sCJD-MM1 patients. A: The epitope for type 2 PrP^res-specific antibody T2. The T2 antibody specifically detects the N-terminal cleavage site of type 2 PrP^res.¹³ In contrast, 3F4 antibody detects both PrP^res types. B: The conventional Western blot analysis using the 3F4 antibody was used for the classification of sCJD patients included in this study. The subgroup and case number of each patient are described above each lane. A faint type 2 PrP^res band (arrowhead) was detected with the majority type 1 PrP^res bands in the sCJD-MM1+2 brain (case 109). C: T2-reactive PrP^res fragments could be detected in all sCJD-MM1 brains examined. D: The signal intensities of the 3F4-reactive PrP^res fragments (white bars) or those of the T2-reactive PrP^res fragments (gray bars). The mean signal intensities of PrP^res in the sCJD-MM2 brain (case 16) were assigned as 100/mm² in each experiment. To compare the amounts of the T2-reactive PrP^res fragments among the patients, the mean signal intensities of the T2-reactive fragments were divided by those of the 3F4-reactive fragments, and the percentage of the T2-reactive fragments was calculated in each case (T2/3F4 ratio, black bars). The data are expressed as mean ± SEM (n = 3). E: Summary of the Western blot analysis using the T2 antibody. Values are means ± SEM.