TABLE 1.

Benefits and drawbacks of the RT-QuIC and PMCA assays.

	RT-QuIC	PMCA
Substrate	Recombinant PrP	Cellular form of PrP
Protocol	Shaking/incubation	Sonication/incubation
Measure of prion concentration	PrPSc seeding activity	PrPSc seeding activity
Conversion products	Thioflavin T positive amyloid PrP	PrPSc assemblies
Pros	-Real time and direct readout -Low biohazard -Detection in bodily fluids, notably CSF -CSF-based diagnostic for CJD -Commercial substrate available -Universal substrate -Good inter-laboratory reproducibility of the second-generation RT-QuIC -Use in other neurodegenerative diseases	-Generation of bona fide prion infectivity -Prion strain typing -Detection of sub-infectious prion doses -Detection in bodily fluids, notably blood -Correlation between infectivity and seeding activity in  inactivation tests
Cons	-Amplified product poorly infectious -Discrepancies between infectivity and seeding activity in  inactivation tests	-Indirect readout (immunoblot) -No universal substrate -Strains refractory to amplification -Biohazardous method -No commercial substrate -Limited inter-laboratory  reproducibility -Use of cofactors required for certain  strains
Application	Diagnostic	Research use