title: Evaluation of the zoonotic potential of transmissible mink encephalopathy.
abstract: Successful transmission of Transmissible Mink Encephalopathy (TME) to cattle supports the bovine hypothesis for the still controversial origin of TME outbreaks. Human and primate susceptibility to classical Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (c-BSE) and the transmissibility of L-type BSE to macaques indicate a low cattle-to-primate species barrier. We therefore evaluated the zoonotic potential of cattle-adapted TME. In less than two years, this strain induced in cynomolgus macaques a neurological disease similar to L-BSE but distinct from c-BSE. TME derived from another donor species (raccoon) induced a similar disease with even shorter incubation periods. L-BSE and cattle-adapted TME were also transmissible to transgenic mice expressing human prion protein (PrP). Secondary transmissions to transgenic mice expressing bovine PrP maintained the features of the three tested bovine strains (cattle TME, c-BSE and L-BSE) regardless of intermediate host. Thus, TME is the third animal prion strain transmissible to both macaques and humanized transgenic mice, suggesting zoonotic potentials that should be considered in the risk analysis of animal prion diseases for human health. Moreover, the similarities between TME and L-BSE are highly suggestive of a link between these strains, and therefore the possible presence of L-BSE for many decades prior to its identification in USA and Europe.
authors.affiliation: CEA, Institute of Emerging Diseases and Innovative Therapies (iMETI), Division of Prions and Related Diseases (SEPIA), Route du Panorama, BP6, 92265 Fontenay-aux-Roses, France. emmanuel.comoy@cea.fr.
authors.forename: Emmanuel E
authors.initials: EE
authors.lastname: Comoy
authors.affiliation: CEA, Institute of Emerging Diseases and Innovative Therapies (iMETI), Division of Prions and Related Diseases (SEPIA), Route du Panorama, BP6, 92265 Fontenay-aux-Roses, France. jacqueline.mikol@wanadoo.fr.
authors.forename: Jacqueline
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mikol
authors.affiliation: CEA, Institute of Emerging Diseases and Innovative Therapies (iMETI), Division of Prions and Related Diseases (SEPIA), Route du Panorama, BP6, 92265 Fontenay-aux-Roses, France. mruchoux@yahoo.fr.
authors.forename: Marie-Madeleine
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Ruchoux
authors.affiliation: CEA, Institute of Emerging Diseases and Innovative Therapies (iMETI), Division of Prions and Related Diseases (SEPIA), Route du Panorama, BP6, 92265 Fontenay-aux-Roses, France. valerie.durand@cea.fr.
authors.forename: Valérie
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Durand
authors.affiliation: CEA, Institute of Emerging Diseases and Innovative Therapies (iMETI), Division of Prions and Related Diseases (SEPIA), Route du Panorama, BP6, 92265 Fontenay-aux-Roses, France. sophie.luccantoni@cea.fr.
authors.forename: Sophie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Luccantoni-Freire
authors.affiliation: CEA, Institute of Emerging Diseases and Innovative Therapies (iMETI), Division of Prions and Related Diseases (SEPIA), Route du Panorama, BP6, 92265 Fontenay-aux-Roses, France. capucine.dehen@cea.fr.
authors.forename: Capucine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dehen
authors.affiliation: CEA, Institute of Emerging Diseases and Innovative Therapies (iMETI), Division of Prions and Related Diseases (SEPIA), Route du Panorama, BP6, 92265 Fontenay-aux-Roses, France. evelyne.correia@cea.fr.
authors.forename: Evelyne
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Correia
authors.affiliation: Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Piemonte, Via Bologna 148, 10154 Torino, Italy. cristina.casalone@izsto.it.
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Casalone
authors.affiliation: Kansas State University, College of Veterinary Medicine, K224B Mosier Hall, Manhattan, Kansas 66506-5601 USA. jricht@vet.k-state.edu.
authors.forename: Juergen A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Richt
authors.affiliation: National Animal Disease Center, USDA, Agricultural Research Service, 1920 Dayton Ave, Ames, Iowa 50010 USA. justin.greenlee@ars.usda.gov.
authors.forename: Justin J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Greenlee
authors.affiliation: Instituto Nacional de Investigacion y Tecnologia Agraria y Alimentaria, Madrid, Spain. jmtorres@inia.es.
authors.forename: Juan Maria
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Torres
authors.affiliation: CEA, Institute of Emerging Diseases and Innovative Therapies (iMETI), Division of Prions and Related Diseases (SEPIA), Route du Panorama, BP6, 92265 Fontenay-aux-Roses, France. paulwbrown@comcast.net.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.affiliation: CEA, Institute of Emerging Diseases and Innovative Therapies (iMETI), Division of Prions and Related Diseases (SEPIA), Route du Panorama, BP6, 92265 Fontenay-aux-Roses, France. jpdeslys@cea.fr.
authors.forename: Jean-Philippe
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Deslys