To assess, if formation of A1-astrocytes also plays a role in human prion diseases, we stained human brain tissue sections for the putative A1-astrocyte markers C3 (Additional file 1: Figure S1b) and guanine-binding protein 2 (GBP2) (Fig. 1b, c, Additional file 1: Figure S1b) [39]. Here, GBP2 is linked to prion disease.