Journal Article

Facilitated cross-species transmission of prions in extraneural tissue

Génétique Animale et Biologie Intégrative (GABI) ; Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-AgroParisTech, Le Dur, Annick, Béringue, Vincent, This work was partly supported by the Alliance Biosecure Foundation and INRA-Transfert, Vilotte, Jean-Luc, Laude, Hubert, Jaumain, Emilie, Reine, Fabienne, Sibille, Pierre, Unité de recherche Virologie et Immunologie Moléculaires (VIM (UR 0892)) ; Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), Herzog, Laetitia

2012

Overview

Prions are infectious pathogens essentially composed of PrPSc, an abnormally folded form of the host-encoded prion protein PrPC. Constrained steric interactions between PrPSc and PrPC are thought to provide prions with species specificity and to control cross-species transmission into other host populations, including humans. We compared the ability of brain and lymphoid tissues from ovine and human PrP transgenic mice to replicate foreign, inefficiently transmitted prions. Lymphoid tissue was consistently more permissive than the brain to prions such as those causing chronic wasting disease and bovine spongiform encephalopathy. Furthermore, when the transmission barrier was overcome through strain shifting in the brain, a distinct agent propagated in the spleen, which retained the ability to infect the original host. Thus, prion cross-species transmission efficacy can exhibit a marked tissue dependence.

• Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS),CCSD,American Association for the Advancement of Science,The American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Subject: Agricultural sciences / Animals / Biological and medical sciences / Bovine spongiform encephalopathy / Brain / Brain Chemistry / Cattle / chronic wasting disease / Cricetinae / Disease transmission / Encephalopathy, Bovine Spongiform - transmission / Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology / Humans / Inoculation / Life Sciences / Lymphoid tissue / Mice / Mice, Transgenic / Microbiology / Nervous system diseases / Non conventional transmissible agents / Organ Specificity / Pathogens / Prion diseases / Prion Diseases - metabolism / Prion Diseases - transmission / Prions / PrPSc proteins / PrPSc Proteins - analysis / PrPSc Proteins - chemistry / PrPSc Proteins - pathogenicity / Sheep / Species Specificity / Spleen / Spleen - chemistry / Tissues / Transgenic animals / Wasting Disease, Chronic - transmission / Zoonoses
• ISBN: 0002994668000