A patient with MV2 subtype of sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and atypical clinical presentation

Clin Neuropathol. 2008 Nov-Dec;27(6):408-13. doi: 10.5414/npp27408.

Abstract

We report the case of a 71-year-old woman with progressive dementia over the course of 4 years, characterized by prominent pyramidal signs and by the lack of ataxia and other cerebellar signs. Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) was not suspected during the patient's life. Autopsy brain tissue showed severe spongiform encephalopathy with kuru-like, but not florid, plaques in neocortex and cerebellum. Massive synaptic diffuse and plaque-like PrP(Sc) deposition was found in the cerebral cortex, striatum, cerebellum and brainstem. Genetic analysis revealed no PRNP gene mutations and methionine/valine heterozygosity (MV) at codon 129. The pathogenic scrapie prion protein (PrP(Sc)) pattern detected by Western blot was Type 2. However, this pattern showed a single unglycosylated band in contrast to the doublet described for MV2 subtype of sCJD with kuru plaques. In summary, this is an autopsy case report of a particular presentation of MV2 subtype of sCJD.

Publication types

  • Case Reports
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Creutzfeldt-Jakob Syndrome / diagnosis*
  • Creutzfeldt-Jakob Syndrome / etiology*
  • Creutzfeldt-Jakob Syndrome / metabolism
  • Female
  • Humans
  • PrPSc Proteins / genetics
  • PrPSc Proteins / metabolism*

Substances

  • PrPSc Proteins