title: Bovine spongiform encephalopathy: investigation of phenotypic variation among passive surveillance cases.
abstract: Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) is a prion disease of domesticated cattle, first identified in Great Britain (GB) in 1986. The disease has been characterized by histopathological, immunohistochemical, biochemical and biological properties, which have shown a consistent disease phenotype among cases obtained by passive surveillance. With the advent of active surveillance in 2001, immunological tests for detection of the prion protein revealed some cases with different biochemical characteristics and, in certain instances, differences in pathology that have indicated variant phenotypes and the possibility of agent strain variation. This study examines a case set of 523 bovine brains derived from archived material identified through passive surveillance in GB. All cases conformed to the phenotype of classical BSE (BSE-C) by histopathological, immunohistochemical and biochemical approaches. The analyses consolidated an understanding of BSE-C and, by western blotting, confirmed differentiation from the known atypical BSE cases which exhibit higher or lower molecular masses than BSE-C (BSE-H and BSE-L respectively).
authors.affiliation: Veterinary Laboratories Agency, Woodham Lane, Addlestone, Surrey KT153NB, UK. furuoka@obihiro.ac.jp
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Stack
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Moore
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Davis
authors.forename: P R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Webb
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Bradshaw
authors.forename: Y H
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chaplin
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Focosi-Snyman
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Thurston
authors.forename: Y I
authors.initials: YI
authors.lastname: Spencer
authors.forename: S A C
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Hawkins
authors.forename: M E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Arnold
authors.forename: M M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Simmons
authors.forename: G A H
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Wells
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D044822:Biodiversity; D015153:Blotting, Western / Q000662:veterinary; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D002417:Cattle; D016643:Encephalopathy, Bovine Spongiform / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D007150:Immunohistochemistry / Q000662:veterinary; D010641:Phenotype; D011159:Population Surveillance / Q000379:methods; D018620:PrPSc Proteins / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism*; D006113:United Kingdom
chemical_list: D018620:PrPSc Proteins