Biosafety Issues

• Minimise transmission risk of CJD and vCJD in healthcare settings. Guidance on prevention of CJD and vCJD by the Advisory Committee on Dangerous Pathogens’ Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy (ACDP TSE) subgroup https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-from-the-acdp-tse-risk-management-subgroup-formerly-tse-working-group
• WHO infection control guidelines for transmissible spongiform encephalopathies: report of a WHO consultation, Geneva, Switzerland, 23-26 March 1999 https://iris.who.int/bitstream/handle/10665/66707/WHO_CDS_CSR_APH_2000.3.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
• Guide de bonnes pratiques de prevention pour les travaux de recherche sur les prions. Fevrier 2022 https://www.cea.fr/presse/Documents/guide-bonnes-pratiques-prions.pdf
• NIH GUIDELINES FOR RESEARCH INVOLVING RECOMBINANT OR SYNTHETIC NUCLEIC ACID MOLECULES – NIH GUIDELINES
• ITALIAN REFERENCE LABORATORY BIOSAFETY GUIDELINES
• BIOSAFETY IN HANDLING PRIONS FOR DIAGNOSTIC PURPOSED IN ANIMAL HEALTH
• PRION AND PRION-LIKE PROTEIN GUIDANCE
• LABORATORY BIOSAFETY MANUAL FOURTH EDITION
• NOTRE DAME UNIVERSITY BIOSAFETY MANUAL
• WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION LABORATORY BIOSAFETY MANUAL THIRD EDITION

Free online scientific publications covering many aspects of biosafety in laboratories working with prions

• Chapman, Gail E., et al. “Inactivation of H‐type and L‐type bovine spongiform encephalopathy following recommended autoclave decontamination procedures.” Transboundary and Emerging Diseases 67.5 (2020): 1872-1878. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/tbed.13513
• Giles, Kurt, et al. “Resistance of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) prions to inactivation.” PLoS pathogens 4.11 (2008): e1000206. https://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article?id=10.1371/journal.ppat.1000206
• Matsuura, Yuichi, et al. “Eliminating transmissibility of bovine spongiform encephalopathy by dry-heat treatment.” Journal of General Virology 101.1 (2020): 136-142. https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/jgv/10.1099/jgv.0.001335
• Spiropoulos, John, et al. “Incomplete inactivation of atypical scrapie following recommended autoclave decontamination procedures.” Transboundary and emerging diseases 66.5 (2019): 1993-2001. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/tbed.13247
• Casassus, Barbara. “France halts prion research amid safety concerns.” (2021): 475-476. https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.373.6554.475
• SAkUdO, AkIkAzU, et al. “Fundamentals of prions and their inactivation.” International journal of molecular medicine 27.4 (2011): 483-489. https://www.spandidos-publications.com/ijmm/27/4/483
• Mead, Simon, and Thomas Evans. “Safe laboratory management of prions and proteopathic seeds.” The Lancet Neurology 20.12 (2021): 981. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laneur/article/PIIS1474-4422(21)00379-3/fulltext
• Brandel, Jean-Philippe, et al. “Variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease diagnosed 7.5 years after occupational exposure.” New England Journal of Medicine 383.1 (2020): 83-85. https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2000687
• Haybaeck, Johannes, et al. “Aerosols transmit prions to immunocompetent and immunodeficient mice.” PLoS pathogens 7.1 (2011): e1001257. https://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article?id=10.1371/journal.ppat.1001257
• Bistaffa, Edoardo, et al. “Biosafety of prions.” Progress in Molecular Biology and Translational Science 150 (2017): 455-485. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1877117317300984
• Caughey, Byron, et al. “Amplified detection of prions and other amyloids by RT-QuIC in diagnostics and the evaluation of therapeutics and disinfectants.” Progress in molecular biology and translational science 150 (2017): 375-388. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S187711731730073X
• Sakudo, Akikazu. “Inactivation methods for prions.” Current Issues in Molecular Biology 36.1 (2020): 23-32. https://www.mdpi.com/1467-3045/36/1/3
• Brown, Paul, et al. “Iatrogenic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, final assessment.” Emerging infectious diseases 18.6 (2012): 901.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3358170/
• Waddell, L., et al. “Current evidence on the transmissibility of chronic wasting disease prions to humans—a systematic review.” Transboundary and emerging diseases 65.1 (2018): 37-49.https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/tbed.12612
• Watson, Neil, et al. “The importance of ongoing international surveillance for Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease.” Nature Reviews Neurology 17.6 (2021): 362-379.https://www.nature.com/articles/s41582-021-00488-7

Elena Bozzetta – Prion Biosafety: the EURL approach

Jean-Noel Arsac – Prions and biosafety

Biosafety in prion labs: survey results and future perspectives