[Biological aspects of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease related to the extractive growth hormone].

Today 34 young patients have been infected by the Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD) agent in France after treatment with pituitary derived growth hormone. 974 individuals received potentially contaminated batches of hormone. The authors then investigated the genetic structure of the prion protein (PrP) gene at the codon 129 in 32 of the 34 CJD patients. Their results show that all are homozygous, 50% of the individuals of the control group being heterozygous. These data strongly suggest that it may exist a genetic susceptibility to the early development of CJD in infected individuals.