Abstract
Background and objective It has been reported that the polymorphism M129V in the PRNP gene modifies the phenotype in all the subtypes of prion diseases in humans. All cases diagnosed to date as suffering the human variant of mad cow disease (vCJD) carry the allele 129M. In the last five years five cases of vCJD have been reported in Spain, three of them in Castilla y León (in western Spain). Observation of differences in the genotypic frequency of this polymorphism in different populations prompted us to analyze the distribution of genotypes of the V129M polymorphism in a population from Castilla y León to determine if there is an increased risk to develop vCJD in this region of Spain. Patients and method We studied the coding region of the PRNP gene containing codon 129 in 110 healthy individuals from Castilla y León. We amplified the DNA by PCR and allelic discrimination was performed after digestion with restriction enzyme NspI. Comparison between groups was performed by X 2 test. Results Our results show a distribution of genotypes of the V129M polymorphism in the population from Castilla y León which is similar to other Spanish and European populations. Conclusions From the genetic point of view, the risk of people from Castilla y León to suffer vCJD should be similar to that of the other Spanish regions.
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