Monday, February 10, 2014

Enhanced Virulence of Sheep-Passaged Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy Agent Is Revealed by Decreased Polymorphism Barriers in Prion Protein Conversion Studies

Enhanced Virulence of Sheep-Passaged Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy Agent Is Revealed by Decreased Polymorphism Barriers in Prion Protein Conversion Studies

 

Jan Priema, Jan P. M. Langevelda, Lucien J. M. van Keulena, Fred G. van Zijderveldb, Olivier Andreolettic and Alex Bossersa

 

+ Author Affiliations aDepartment of Infection Biology, Central Veterinary Institute of Wageningen UR, Lelystad, The Netherlands bDepartment of Bacteriology and TSEs, Central Veterinary Institute of Wageningen UR, Lelystad, The Netherlands cUMR INRA ENVT 1225, Interactions Hôtes Agents Pathogènes, Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire de Toulouse, France

 

ABSTRACT

 

Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) can be efficiently transmitted to small ruminants (sheep and goats) with certain prion protein (PrP) genotypes. Polymorphisms in PrP of both the host and donor influence the transmission efficiency of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) in general. These polymorphisms in PrP also modulate the PrP conversion underlying TSE agent replication. Here we demonstrate that single-round protein misfolding cyclic amplification (PMCA) can be used to assess species and polymorphism barriers at the molecular level. We assessed those within and between the ovine and bovine species in vitro using a variety of natural scrapie and experimentally generated cross-species BSE agents. These BSE agents include ovBSE-ARQ isolates (BSE derived from sheep having the ARQ/ARQ PrP genotype), and two unique BSE-derived variants: BSE passaged in VRQ/VRQ sheep and a cow BSE agent isolate generated by back-transmission of ovBSE-ARQ into its original host. PMCA allowed us to quantitatively determine PrP conversion profiles that correlated with known in vivo transmissibility and susceptibility in the two ruminant species in which strain-specific molecular signatures, like its molecular weight after protease digestion, were maintained. Furthermore, both BSE agent isolates from ARQ and VRQ sheep demonstrated a surprising transmission profile in which efficient transmissions to both sheep and bovine variants was combined. Finally, all data support the notion that ARQ-derived sheep BSE points to a significant increase in virulence compared to all other tested scrapie- and BSE-derived variants reflected by the increased conversion efficiencies of previously inefficient convertible PrP variants (including the so-called “resistant” sheep ARR variant).

 

IMPORTANCE Prion diseases such as scrapie in sheep and goats, BSE in cattle, and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) in humans are fatal neurodegenerative diseases caused by prions. BSE is known to be transmissible to a variety of hosts, including sheep and humans. Based on the typical BSE agent strain signatures and epidemiological data, the occurrence of a novel variant of CJD in humans was linked to BSE occurrence in the United Kingdom. Measures, including genetic selection of sheep toward less susceptible PrP genotypes, have been implemented to lower the risk of BSE transmission into sheep, since the disease could potentially spread into a natural reservoir. In this study, we demonstrated using molecular PrP conversion studies that when BSE is first transmitted through sheep, the host range is modified significantly and the PrP converting potency increased, allowing the ovine BSE to transmit more efficiently than cow BSE into supposedly less susceptible hosts.

 

 FOOTNOTES Received 25 August 2013. Accepted 19 December 2013. Address correspondence to Alex Bossers, alex.bossers@wur.nl.

 

Published ahead of print 26 December 2013

 

Copyright © 2014, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

 

 


 

 

Thursday, December 05, 2013

 

National Scrapie Eradication Program October 2013 Monthly Report Fiscal Year 2014 TSE PRION REPORT

 


 

 

Sunday, November 17, 2013

 

L-BSE in Genetically Susceptible and Resistant Sheep: Changes in Prion Strain or Phenotypic Plasticity of the Disease-Associated Prion Protein?

 


 

 

Saturday, November 02, 2013

 

OREGON DETECTS SCRAPIE

 


 

 

Friday, July 26, 2013

 

Voluntary Scrapie Program USA UPDATE July 26, 2013 increase in FY 2013 is not statistically meaningful due to the sample size

 

Greetings BSE-L members et al,

 

“The increase in FY 2013 is not statistically meaningful due to the sample size.”

 

SO, when a TSE mad cow type disease is NOT detectable with a surveillance system that is set up to test numbers so low you can’t find it, and you complain on that one factor, then USDA inc tells you that those are the number set up by OIE inc, and are sufficient to find a TSE mad cow type disease in said species, and that’s good enough for them, as far as ‘sample size’.

 

BUT yet, when the shoe is on the other foot so to speak, oh well, it’s a different story now, the increase in Scrapie cases for the FY 2013 is NOT meaningful now due to the sample size.

 

yep, that’s what happened out in the Trans Pecos region where I told the TAHC et al to test for CWD ten years ago, I complained about that sample size being totally insufficient, where I knew the CWD positives were waltzing into Texas, well, they let these CWD positives do it for another 10 years before doing anything about it, and when they finally increased the sample size, guess what, they found CWD in TEXAS.

 

same thing happened with mad cow disease. they increased the sample size, found it, scared the hell out of them because of all the atypicals, and immediately shut it down, back to OIE numbers, where you cannot find a TSE prion disease. what a bunch of hypocrites, and what a joke. all of them.

 

I suppose the high number of goat cases in California and Michigan, and the two meat-type twin goats residing in the same herd that tested positive, both that were submitted as clinical suspects, I guess that’s just another happenstance of bad luck, another spontaneous event, ...really?

 

*** I have been trying to bring awareness to the increase in numbers of goat scrapie cases in certain areas for years now from different potential sources, to no avail. how many of them might be BSE? as the USDA inc, the OIE inc, CFIA inc, all try to make typical scrapie a legal trading commodity (they have already done this with the atypical scrapie, a very foolish move, one that risk both humans and animals around the globe to the TSE mad cow type agent). this voluntary scrapie program will not work, in my opinion, the USDA, OIE, CFIA, know this, so the next best thing is just to force feed all of us around the globe the TSE prion mad cow type agent by exempting it all $$$ it’s all gonna catch up sooner or later. just my take. ...

 

Friday, July 26, 2013

 

Voluntary Scrapie Program USA UPDATE July 26, 2013 increase in FY 2013 is not statistically meaningful due to the sample size http://scrapie-usa.blogspot.com/2013/07/voluntary-scrapie-program-usa-update.html

 

Sunday, June 2, 2013

 

Characterisation of an Unusual TSE in a Goat by Transmission in Knock-in Transgenic Mice

 


 

 

 Saturday, July 6, 2013

 

*** Small Ruminant Nor98 Prions Share Biochemical Features with Human Gerstmann-Sträussler-Scheinker Disease and Variably Protease-Sensitive Prionopathy

 

Research Article

 


 

 

Thursday, March 29, 2012

 

atypical Nor-98 Scrapie has spread from coast to coast in the USA 2012

 

NIAA Annual Conference April 11-14, 2011San Antonio, Texas

 


 

 

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

 

BSE IN GOATS CAN BE MISTAKEN FOR SCRAPIE

 

February 1, 2012

 


 

 

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

 

Selection of Distinct Strain Phenotypes in Mice Infected by Ovine Natural Scrapie Isolates Similar to CH1641 Experimental Scrapie

 

Journal of Neuropathology & Experimental Neurology:

 

February 2012 - Volume 71 - Issue 2 - p 140–147

 


 

 

Thursday, July 14, 2011

 

Histopathological Studies of "CH1641-Like" Scrapie Sources Versus Classical Scrapie and BSE Transmitted to Ovine Transgenic Mice (TgOvPrP4)

 


 

 

SHEEP AND BSE

 

PERSONAL AND CONFIDENTIAL

 

SHEEP AND BSE

 

A. The experimental transmission of BSE to sheep.

 

Studies have shown that the ''negative'' line NPU flock of Cheviots can be experimentally infected with BSE by intracerebral (ic) or oral challenge (the latter being equivalent to 0.5 gram of a pool of four cow brains from animals confirmed to have BSE).

 


 

 

RB264

 

BSE - TRANSMISSION STUDIES

 


 

 

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

 

Selection of Distinct Strain Phenotypes in Mice Infected by Ovine Natural Scrapie Isolates Similar to CH1641 Experimental Scrapie

 

Journal of Neuropathology & Experimental Neurology:

 

February 2012 - Volume 71 - Issue 2 - p 140–147

 


 

 

Saturday, December 3, 2011

 

Isolation of Prion with BSE Properties from Farmed Goat Volume 17, Number 12—December 2011

 


 

 

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

 

IN CONFIDENCE SCRAPIE TRANSMISSION TO CHIMPANZEES IN CONFIDENCE

 


 

 

Sunday, December 12, 2010

 

EFSA reviews BSE/TSE infectivity in small ruminant tissues News Story 2 December 2010

 


 

 

Sunday, April 18, 2010

 

SCRAPIE AND ATYPICAL SCRAPIE TRANSMISSION STUDIES A REVIEW 2010

 


 

 
Sunday, February 2, 2014
 
The Presence of Disease-Associated Prion Protein in Skeletal Muscle of Cattle Infected with Classical Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy
 
NOTE Pathology
 
 
 
 
 

 

TSS

No comments: