The Prepared Tau Exon-Specific Antibodies Revealed Distinct Profiles of Tau in CSF of the Patients with Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease

BACKGROUND: The diagnostic value of CSF tau for Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) has been widely evaluated, showing a markedly disease-relative manner. However, the profiles of tau isoforms in CSF of CJD patients remain unknown. Here, we prepared the exon-specific antibodies against the peptides encoded by exon-2, exon-3 and exon-10 of human tau protein and evaluated the reactive profiles of tau in CSF samples from the patients with probable CJD. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Sequences encoding exon-2, exon-3 and exon-10 of human tau protein were cloned into a prokaryotic expression vector pGEX-2T. Using recombinant fusion proteins GST-E2, GST-E3 and GST-E10, three tau exon-specific antibodies were elicited. Reliable specificities of the prepared antibodies were obtained after a serial of purification processes, not only in recognizing the tau peptides encoded by exon-2, -3 and -10, but also in distinguishing six recombinant tau isoforms by Western blot and ELISA. Three predominant tau-specific bands were observed in CSF samples with the exon-specific and the commercial tau antibodies, respectively, showing different reactive profiles between the groups of probable CJD and non-CJD. A 65 KD band was detected only in the CSF samples from probable CJD patients, especially with the antibodies against exon-2 (Anti-tE2) and exon-10 (Anit-tE10). The appearances of 65 KD band in CSF correlated well with positive 14-3-3 in CSF and typical abnormality in EEG. Such band was not observed in the CSF samples of six tested genetic CJD patients. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Three exon-specific polyclonal antibodies were successfully prepared. Based on these antibodies, different CSF tau profiles in Western blots were observed between the groups of probable CJD and non-CJD. A disease-specific tau band emerged in the CSF samples from probable sporadic CJD, which may supply a new biomarker for screening sporadic CJD.