title: Facilitated cross-species transmission of prions in extraneural tissue.
abstract: Prions are infectious pathogens essentially composed of PrP(Sc), an abnormally folded form of the host-encoded prion protein PrP(C). Constrained steric interactions between PrP(Sc) and PrP(C) 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.
authors.affiliation: Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique UR892, Virologie Immunologie Moléculaires, Jouy-en-Josas, France.
authors.forename: Vincent
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Béringue
authors.forename: Laëtitia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Herzog
authors.forename: Emilie
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Jaumain
authors.forename: Fabienne
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Reine
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sibille
authors.forename: Annick
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Le Dur
authors.forename: Jean-Luc
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Vilotte
authors.forename: Hubert
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Laude
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001923:Brain Chemistry; D002417:Cattle; D006224:Cricetinae; D016643:Encephalopathy, Bovine Spongiform / Q000635:transmission; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D009928:Organ Specificity; D018620:PrPSc Proteins / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry / Q000472:pathogenicity; D017096:Prion Diseases / Q000378:metabolism / Q000635:transmission*; D012756:Sheep; D013045:Species Specificity; D013154:Spleen / Q000737:chemistry*; D034081:Wasting Disease, Chronic / Q000635:transmission; D015047:Zoonoses
chemical_list: D018620:PrPSc Proteins