Patent ID: 7776579

Claim:
A method for detoxifying a pathogenic prion protein, comprising the step of bringing a surface which may be contaminated with a pathogenic prion protein into contact with an enzyme exhibiting an activity of digesting a protein highly resistant to denaturation and degradation and having the following properties: (a) activity and substrate specificity: hydrolyzing a peptide bond of a protein highly resistant to denaturation and degradation; (b) molecular weight: 31,000 (determined by an SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis using a homogeneous gel having a gel concentration of 12%); (c) isoelectric point: pI 9.3 (determined by polyacrylamide gel isoelectric focusing electrophoresis); (d) optimum pH: pH 9.0 to 10.0; and (e) optimum temperature for activity: 60 to 70° C., wherein the contacting step is carried out without preheating the subject, and said enzyme is produced by Bacillus licheniformis MSK-103 (FERM BP-08487).