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Sola D, Betancor M, Marco Lorente PA, Pérez Lázaro S, Barrio T, Sevilla E, Marín B, Moreno B, Monzón M, Acín C, Bolea R, Badiola JJ, Otero A. Diagnosis in Scrapie: Conventional Methods and New Biomarkers. Pathogens 2023; 12:1399. [PMID: 38133284 PMCID: PMC10746075 DOI: 10.3390/pathogens12121399] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/26/2023] [Revised: 11/24/2023] [Accepted: 11/24/2023] [Indexed: 12/23/2023] Open
Abstract
Scrapie, a naturally occurring prion disease affecting goats and sheep, comprises classical and atypical forms, with classical scrapie being the archetype of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies. This review explores the challenges of scrapie diagnosis and the utility of various biomarkers and their potential implications for human prion diseases. Understanding these biomarkers in the context of scrapie may enable earlier prion disease diagnosis in humans, which is crucial for effective intervention. Research on scrapie biomarkers bridges the gap between veterinary and human medicine, offering hope for the early detection and improved management of prion diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Diego Sola
- Centro de Encefalopatías y Enfermedades Transmisibles Emergentes, Facultad de Veterinaria, IA2, Universidad de Zaragoza, 50013 Zaragoza, Spain; (D.S.)
| | - Marina Betancor
- Centro de Encefalopatías y Enfermedades Transmisibles Emergentes, Facultad de Veterinaria, IA2, Universidad de Zaragoza, 50013 Zaragoza, Spain; (D.S.)
| | - Paula A. Marco Lorente
- Centro de Encefalopatías y Enfermedades Transmisibles Emergentes, Facultad de Veterinaria, IA2, Universidad de Zaragoza, 50013 Zaragoza, Spain; (D.S.)
| | - Sonia Pérez Lázaro
- Centro de Encefalopatías y Enfermedades Transmisibles Emergentes, Facultad de Veterinaria, IA2, Universidad de Zaragoza, 50013 Zaragoza, Spain; (D.S.)
| | - Tomás Barrio
- Unité Mixte de Recherche de l’Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement1225 Interactions Hôtes-Agents Pathogènes, École Nationale Vétérinaire de Toulouse, 31076 Toulouse, France
| | - Eloisa Sevilla
- Centro de Encefalopatías y Enfermedades Transmisibles Emergentes, Facultad de Veterinaria, IA2, Universidad de Zaragoza, 50013 Zaragoza, Spain; (D.S.)
| | - Belén Marín
- Centro de Encefalopatías y Enfermedades Transmisibles Emergentes, Facultad de Veterinaria, IA2, Universidad de Zaragoza, 50013 Zaragoza, Spain; (D.S.)
| | - Bernardino Moreno
- Centro de Encefalopatías y Enfermedades Transmisibles Emergentes, Facultad de Veterinaria, IA2, Universidad de Zaragoza, 50013 Zaragoza, Spain; (D.S.)
| | - Marta Monzón
- Centro de Encefalopatías y Enfermedades Transmisibles Emergentes, Facultad de Veterinaria, IA2, Universidad de Zaragoza, 50013 Zaragoza, Spain; (D.S.)
| | - Cristina Acín
- Centro de Encefalopatías y Enfermedades Transmisibles Emergentes, Facultad de Veterinaria, IA2, Universidad de Zaragoza, 50013 Zaragoza, Spain; (D.S.)
| | - Rosa Bolea
- Centro de Encefalopatías y Enfermedades Transmisibles Emergentes, Facultad de Veterinaria, IA2, Universidad de Zaragoza, 50013 Zaragoza, Spain; (D.S.)
| | - Juan J. Badiola
- Centro de Encefalopatías y Enfermedades Transmisibles Emergentes, Facultad de Veterinaria, IA2, Universidad de Zaragoza, 50013 Zaragoza, Spain; (D.S.)
| | - Alicia Otero
- Centro de Encefalopatías y Enfermedades Transmisibles Emergentes, Facultad de Veterinaria, IA2, Universidad de Zaragoza, 50013 Zaragoza, Spain; (D.S.)
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Harm TA, Smith JD, Cassmann ED, Greenlee JJ. Combinatorial treatment of brain samples from sheep with scrapie using sodium percarbonate, sodium dodecyl sulfate, and proteinase K increases survival time in inoculated susceptible sheep. Res Vet Sci 2022; 152:497-503. [PMID: 36162234 DOI: 10.1016/j.rvsc.2022.09.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/09/2022] [Revised: 08/11/2022] [Accepted: 09/02/2022] [Indexed: 10/14/2022]
Abstract
The agent of scrapie is resistant to most chemical and physical methods of inactivation. Prions bind to soils, metals, and various materials and persist in the environment confounding the control of prion diseases. Most methods of prion inactivation require severe conditions such as prolong exposure to sodium hypochlorite or autoclaving, which may not be suitable for field conditions. We evaluated the efficacy of a combinatorial approach to inactivation of US scrapie strain x124 under the mild conditions of treating scrapie-affected brain homogenate with sodium percarbonate (SPC), sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), or in combination followed by proteinase K (PK) digestion at room temperature. Western blot analysis of treated brain homogenate demonstrates partial reduction in PrPSc immunoreactivity. Genetically susceptible VRQ/ARQ Suffolk sheep were oronasally inoculated with 1 g of SPC (n = 1), SDS (n = 2), SDS + PK (n = 2), and SPC + SDS + PK (n = 4) treated brain homogenate. Sheep were assessed daily for clinical signs, euthanized at the development of clinical disease, and tissues were assessed for accumulation of PrPSc. Scrapie status in all sheep was determined by western blot, enzyme immunoassay, and immunohistochemistry. Mean incubation periods (IPs) for SPC (11.9 months, 0% survival), SDS (12.6 months, 0% survival), SDS + PK (14.0 months, 0% survival), and SPC + SDS + PK (12.5 months, 25% survival) were increased compared to positive control sheep (n = 2, 10.7 months, 0% survival) by 1.2, 1.9, 3.3, and 1.8 months, respectively. Treatment did not influence PrPSc accumulation and distribution at the clinical stage of disease. Differences in mean IPs and survival indicates partial but not complete reduction in scrapie infectivity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tyler A Harm
- Virus and Prion Research Unit, National Animal Disease Center, Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture, Ames, IA, United States of America
| | - Jodi D Smith
- Department of Veterinary Pathology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, United States of America
| | - Eric D Cassmann
- Virus and Prion Research Unit, National Animal Disease Center, Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture, Ames, IA, United States of America
| | - Justin J Greenlee
- Virus and Prion Research Unit, National Animal Disease Center, Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture, Ames, IA, United States of America.
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Gallardo MJ, Delgado FO. Animal prion diseases: A review of intraspecies transmission. Open Vet J 2021; 11:707-723. [PMID: 35070868 PMCID: PMC8770171 DOI: 10.5455/ovj.2021.v11.i4.23] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/03/2021] [Accepted: 11/16/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Animal prion diseases are a group of neurodegenerative, transmissible, and fatal disorders that affect several animal species. The causative agent, prion, is a misfolded isoform of normal cellular prion protein, which is found in cells with higher concentration in the central nervous system. This review explored the sources of infection and different natural transmission routes of animal prion diseases in susceptible populations. Chronic wasting disease in cervids and scrapie in small ruminants are prion diseases capable of maintaining themselves in susceptible populations through horizontal and vertical transmission. The other prion animal diseases can only be transmitted through food contaminated with prions. Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) is the only animal prion disease considered zoonotic. However, due to its inability to transmit within a population, it could be controlled. The emergence of atypical cases of scrapie and BSE, even the recent report of prion disease in camels, demonstrates the importance of understanding the transmission routes of prion diseases to take measures to control them and to assess the risks to human and animal health.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mauro Julián Gallardo
- Instituto de Patobiología Veterinaria, IPVet, UEDD INTA-CONICET, Hurlingham, Argentina
- Cátedra de Enfermedades Infecciosas, Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Fernando Oscar Delgado
- Instituto de Patobiología Veterinaria, IPVet, UEDD INTA-CONICET, Hurlingham, Argentina
- Facultad de Cs. Agrarias y Veterinarias, Universidad del Salvador, Pilar, Argentina
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Kincheloe JM, Horn-Delzer AR, Makau DN, Wells SJ. Chronic Wasting Disease Transmission Risk Assessment for Farmed Cervids in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Viruses 2021; 13:v13081586. [PMID: 34452450 PMCID: PMC8402894 DOI: 10.3390/v13081586] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2021] [Revised: 07/27/2021] [Accepted: 07/29/2021] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
CWD (chronic wasting disease) has emerged as one of the most important diseases of cervids and continues to adversely affect farmed and wild cervid populations, despite control and preventive measures. This study aims to use the current scientific understanding of CWD transmission and knowledge of farmed cervid operations to conduct a qualitative risk assessment for CWD transmission to cervid farms and, applying this risk assessment, systematically describe the CWD transmission risks experienced by CWD-positive farmed cervid operations in Minnesota and Wisconsin. A systematic review of literature related to CWD transmission informed our criteria to stratify CWD transmission risks to cervid operations into high-risk low uncertainty, moderate-risk high uncertainty, and negligible-risk low uncertainty categories. Case data from 34 CWD-positive farmed cervid operations in Minnesota and Wisconsin from 2002 to January 2019 were categorized by transmission risks exposure and evaluated for trends. The majority of case farms recorded high transmission risks (56%), which were likely sources of CWD, but many (44%) had only moderate or negligible transmission risks, including most of the herds (62%) detected since 2012. The presence of CWD-positive cervid farms with only moderate or low CWD transmission risks necessitates further investigation of these risks to inform effective control measures.
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Affiliation(s)
- James M. Kincheloe
- Center for Science in the Public Interest, 1220 L St. N.W., Suite 300, Washington, DC 20005, USA
- Department of Veterinary Population Medicine, University of Minnesota, 225 Vet Med Ctr, 1365 Gortner Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA; (D.N.M.); (S.J.W.)
- Correspondence:
| | - Amy R. Horn-Delzer
- Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection, 2811 Agriculture Drive, Madison, WI 53708, USA;
| | - Dennis N. Makau
- Department of Veterinary Population Medicine, University of Minnesota, 225 Vet Med Ctr, 1365 Gortner Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA; (D.N.M.); (S.J.W.)
| | - Scott J. Wells
- Department of Veterinary Population Medicine, University of Minnesota, 225 Vet Med Ctr, 1365 Gortner Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA; (D.N.M.); (S.J.W.)
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Alarcon P, Marco-Jimenez F, Horigan V, Ortiz-Pelaez A, Rajanayagam B, Dryden A, Simmons H, Konold T, Marco C, Charnley J, Spiropoulos J, Cassar C, Adkin A. A review of cleaning and disinfection guidelines and recommendations following an outbreak of classical scrapie. Prev Vet Med 2021; 193:105388. [PMID: 34098231 DOI: 10.1016/j.prevetmed.2021.105388] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/09/2021] [Revised: 04/27/2021] [Accepted: 05/21/2021] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
Classical scrapie is a prion disease of small ruminants, the infectious agent of which has been shown to be extremely persistent in the environment. Cleaning and disinfection (C&D) after a scrapie outbreak is currently recommended by many governments' veterinary advisors and implemented in most farms affected. Yet, the effectiveness of these procedures remains unclear. The aim of this study was to review existing literature and guidelines regarding farm C&D protocols following classical scrapie outbreaks and assess their effectiveness and the challenges that translation of policy and legislative requirements present at a practical level. A review of the literature was conducted to identify the on-farm C&D protocols used following outbreaks of scrapie, assess those materials with high risk for persistence of the scrapie agent on farms, and review the existing evidence of the effectiveness of recommended C&D protocols. An expert workshop was also organised in Great Britain (GB) to assess: the decision-making process used when implementing C&D protocols on GB farms, the experts' perceptions on the effectiveness of these protocols and changes needed, and their views on potential recommendations for policy and research. Outputs of the literature review revealed that the current recommended protocol for C&D [1 h treatment with sodium hypochlorite containing 20,000 ppm free chlorine or 2 M sodium hydroxide (NaOH)] is based on laboratory experiments. Only four field farm experiments have been conducted, indicating a lack of data on effectiveness of C&D protocols on farms by the re-occurrence of scrapie infection post re-stocking. Recommendations related to the control of outdoor environment, which are difficult and expensive to implement, vary between countries. The expert workshop concluded that there are no practical, cost-effective C&D alternatives to be considered at this time, with control therefore based on C&D only in combination with additional time restrictions on re-stocking and replacement with non-susceptible livestock or more genetically resistant types, where available. Participants agreed that C&D should still be completed on scrapie affected farms, as it is considered to be "good disease practice" and likely to reduce the levels of the prion protein. Participants felt that any additional protocols developed should not be "too prescriptive" (should not be written down in specific policies) because of significant variation in farm types, farm equipment and installations. Under this scenario, control of classical scrapie on farms should be designed with a level of C&D in combination with re-stocking temporal ban and replacement with livestock of limited susceptibility.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pablo Alarcon
- Department of Epidemiological Sciences, Animal and Plant Health Agency, Woodham Lane, New Haw, Addlestone, Surrey, KT15 3NB, UK; Veterinary Epidemiology, Economics and Public Health Group, Department of Pathobiology and Population Sciences, Royal Veterinary College, Hawkshead Lane, North Mymms, Hatfield, Hertfordshire, AL9 7TA, UK.
| | - Francisco Marco-Jimenez
- Department of Epidemiological Sciences, Animal and Plant Health Agency, Woodham Lane, New Haw, Addlestone, Surrey, KT15 3NB, UK; Department of Animal Sciences, Universitat Politècnica de València, C/Camino de vera s/n, Valencia, 46071, Spain
| | - Verity Horigan
- Department of Epidemiological Sciences, Animal and Plant Health Agency, Woodham Lane, New Haw, Addlestone, Surrey, KT15 3NB, UK
| | | | - Brenda Rajanayagam
- Department of Epidemiological Sciences, Animal and Plant Health Agency, Woodham Lane, New Haw, Addlestone, Surrey, KT15 3NB, UK
| | - Aidan Dryden
- APHA, Worcester CSC, County Hall, Spetchley Road, Worcester, WR5 2NP, UK
| | - Hugh Simmons
- Department of Pathology and Animal Sciences, Animal and Plant Health Agency, Woodham Lane, New Haw, Addlestone, Surrey, KT15 3NB, UK
| | - Timm Konold
- Department of Pathology and Animal Sciences, Animal and Plant Health Agency, Woodham Lane, New Haw, Addlestone, Surrey, KT15 3NB, UK.
| | - Carmen Marco
- APHA Advice Services, Animal and Plant Health Agency, Woodham Lane, New Haw, Addlestone, Surrey, KT15 3NB, UK
| | - Judith Charnley
- APHA Foundry House, Carleton Rd, Skipton North Yorks, BD23 2BE, UK
| | - John Spiropoulos
- Department of Pathology and Animal Sciences, Animal and Plant Health Agency, Woodham Lane, New Haw, Addlestone, Surrey, KT15 3NB, UK
| | - Claire Cassar
- Laboratory Services, Animal and Plant Health Agency, Woodham Lane, New Haw, Addlestone, Surrey, KT15 3NB, UK
| | - Amie Adkin
- Food Standards Agency, Clive House, 70 Petty France, London, SW1H 9EX, UK
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Horigan V, Gale P, Adkin A, Konold T, Cassar C, Spiropoulos J, Kelly L. Assessing the aggregated probability of entry of a novel prion disease agent into the United Kingdom. MICROBIAL RISK ANALYSIS 2020; 16:100134. [PMID: 32837979 PMCID: PMC7428426 DOI: 10.1016/j.mran.2020.100134] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/13/2020] [Revised: 07/06/2020] [Accepted: 08/10/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
In 2018 prion disease was detected in camels at an abattoir in Algeria for the first time. The emergence of prion disease in this species made it prudent to assess the probability of entry of the pathogen into the United Kingdom (UK) from this region. Potentially contaminated products were identified as evidenced by other prion diseases. The aggregated probability of entry of the pathogen was estimated as very high and high for legal milk and cheese imports respectively and very high, high and high for illegal meat, milk and cheese products respectively. This aggregated probability represents a qualitative assessment of the probability of one or more entry events per year into the UK; it gives no indication of the number of entry events per year. The uncertainty associated with these estimates was high due to the unknown variation in prevalence of infection in camels and an uncertain number and type of illegal products entering the UK. Potential public health implications of this pathogen are unknown although there is currently no evidence of zoonotic transmission of prion diseases other than bovine spongiform encephalopathy to humans.
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Affiliation(s)
- Verity Horigan
- Department of Epidemiological Sciences, Animal and Plant Health Agency, Woodham Lane, New Haw, Surrey, KT15 3NB, UK
| | - Paul Gale
- Department of Epidemiological Sciences, Animal and Plant Health Agency, Woodham Lane, New Haw, Surrey, KT15 3NB, UK
| | - Amie Adkin
- Department of Epidemiological Sciences, Animal and Plant Health Agency, Woodham Lane, New Haw, Surrey, KT15 3NB, UK
| | - Timm Konold
- Department of Pathology, Animal and Plant Health Agency, Woodham Lane, New Haw, Surrey, KT15 3NB, UK
| | - Claire Cassar
- Department of Pathology, Animal and Plant Health Agency, Woodham Lane, New Haw, Surrey, KT15 3NB, UK
| | - John Spiropoulos
- Department of Pathology, Animal and Plant Health Agency, Woodham Lane, New Haw, Surrey, KT15 3NB, UK
| | - Louise Kelly
- Department of Epidemiological Sciences, Animal and Plant Health Agency, Woodham Lane, New Haw, Surrey, KT15 3NB, UK
- Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Strathclyde, 26 Richmond St, Glasgow G1 1XH, UK
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Abstract
In sheep, scrapie is a fatal neurologic disease that is caused by a misfolded protein called a prion (designated PrPSc). The normal cellular prion protein (PrPC) is encoded by an endogenous gene, PRNP, that is present in high concentrations within the CNS. Although a broad range of functions has been described for PrPC, its entire range of functions has yet to be fully elucidated. Accumulation of PrPSc results in neurodegeneration. The PRNP gene has several naturally occurring polymorphisms, and there is a strong correlation between scrapie susceptibility and PRNP genotype. The cornerstone of scrapie eradication programs is the selection of scrapie-resistant genotypes to eliminate classical scrapie. Transmission of classical scrapie in sheep occurs during the prenatal and periparturient periods when lambs are highly susceptible. Initially, the scrapie agent is disseminated throughout the lymphoid system and into the CNS. Shedding of the scrapie agent occurs before the onset of clinical signs. In contrast to classical scrapie, atypical scrapie is believed to be a spontaneous disease that occurs in isolated instances in older animals within a flock. The agent that causes atypical scrapie is not considered to be naturally transmissible. Transmission of the scrapie agent to species other than sheep, including deer, has been experimentally demonstrated as has the transmission of nonscrapie prion agents to sheep. The purpose of this review is to outline the current methods for diagnosing scrapie in sheep and the techniques used for studying the pathogenesis and host range of the scrapie agent. Also discussed is the US scrapie eradication program including recent updates.
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Detection of Pathognomonic Biomarker PrP Sc and the Contribution of Cell Free-Amplification Techniques to the Diagnosis of Prion Diseases. Biomolecules 2020; 10:biom10030469. [PMID: 32204429 PMCID: PMC7175149 DOI: 10.3390/biom10030469] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/21/2020] [Revised: 03/16/2020] [Accepted: 03/17/2020] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies or prion diseases are rapidly progressive neurodegenerative diseases, the clinical manifestation of which can resemble other promptly evolving neurological maladies. Therefore, the unequivocal ante-mortem diagnosis is highly challenging and was only possible by histopathological and immunohistochemical analysis of the brain at necropsy. Although surrogate biomarkers of neurological damage have become invaluable to complement clinical data and provide more accurate diagnostics at early stages, other neurodegenerative diseases show similar alterations hindering the differential diagnosis. To solve that, the detection of the pathognomonic biomarker of disease, PrPSc, the aberrantly folded isoform of the prion protein, could be used. However, the amounts in easily accessible tissues or body fluids at pre-clinical or early clinical stages are extremely low for the standard detection methods. The solution comes from the recent development of in vitro prion propagation techniques, such as Protein Misfolding Cyclic Amplification (PMCA) and Real Time-Quaking Induced Conversion (RT-QuIC), which have been already applied to detect minute amounts of PrPSc in different matrixes and make early diagnosis of prion diseases feasible in a near future. Herein, the most relevant tissues and body fluids in which PrPSc has been detected in animals and humans are being reviewed, especially those in which cell-free prion propagation systems have been used with diagnostic purposes.
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Gough KC, Baker CA, Hawkins S, Simmons H, Konold T, Maddison BC. Rapid recontamination of a farm building occurs after attempted prion removal. Vet Rec 2019; 184:97. [DOI: 10.1136/vr.105054] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2018] [Revised: 09/25/2018] [Accepted: 11/23/2018] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | - Claire Alison Baker
- ADAS, School of Veterinary Medicine and Science, The University of Nottingham; Loughborough UK
| | - Steve Hawkins
- Animal Sciences Unit, Pathology Department; Animal & Plant Health Agency Weybridge; New Haw, Addlestone Surrey UK
| | - Hugh Simmons
- Animal Sciences Unit, Pathology Department; Animal & Plant Health Agency Weybridge; New Haw, Addlestone Surrey UK
| | - Timm Konold
- Animal Sciences Unit, Pathology Department; Animal & Plant Health Agency Weybridge; New Haw, Addlestone Surrey UK
| | - Ben Charles Maddison
- ADAS, School of Veterinary Medicine and Science, The University of Nottingham; Loughborough UK
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Abstract
In coping with prion diseases, it is important to have tests that are practical enough for routine applications in medicine, agriculture, wildlife biology, and research, yet sensitive enough to detect minimal amounts of infectivity. Real-time quaking-induced conversion (RT-QuIC) assays have evolved to the point where they fulfill these criteria in applications to various human and animal prion diseases. For example, RT-QuIC assays of cerebrospinal fluid and nasal brushings allow for highly sensitive (77-97%) and specific (99-100%) identification of human sCJD patients. Recent improvements have markedly enhanced sensitivity and reduced the assay time required for many samples to a matter of hours rather than days. By combining analyses of cerebrospinal fluid and nasal brushings, diagnostic sensitivities and specificities of nearly 100% can be achieved. RT-QuIC assays are based on prion-seeded amyloid fibril formation by recombinant prion protein (rPrPSen) in multiwell plates using a Thioflavin T fluorescence readout. Here we describe our current RT-QuIC methodologies as well as technical considerations in executing, troubleshooting, and adapting the assay to new strains of prions and sample types.
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Ricci A, Allende A, Bolton D, Chemaly M, Davies R, Fernández Escámez PS, Gironés R, Herman L, Koutsoumanis K, Lindqvist R, Nørrung B, Robertson L, Ru G, Sanaa M, Skandamis P, Snary E, Speybroeck N, Kuile BT, Threlfall J, Wahlström H, Benestad S, Gavier-Widen D, Miller MW, Telling GC, Tryland M, Latronico F, Ortiz-Pelaez A, Stella P, Simmons M. Scientific opinion on chronic wasting disease (II). EFSA J 2018; 16:e05132. [PMID: 32625679 PMCID: PMC7328883 DOI: 10.2903/j.efsa.2018.5132] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/02/2023] Open
Abstract
The European Commission asked EFSA for a scientific opinion on chronic wasting disease in two parts. Part one, on surveillance, animal health risk-based measures and public health risks, was published in January 2017. This opinion (part two) addresses the remaining Terms of Reference, namely, 'are the conclusions and recommendations in the EFSA opinion of June 2004 on diagnostic methods for chronic wasting disease still valid? If not, an update should be provided', and 'update the conclusions of the 2010 EFSA opinion on the results of the European Union survey on chronic wasting disease in cervids, as regards its occurrence in the cervid population in the European Union'. Data on the performance of authorised rapid tests in North America are not comprehensive, and are more limited than those available for the tests approved for statutory transmissible spongiform encephalopathies surveillance applications in cattle and sheep. There are no data directly comparing available rapid test performances in cervids. The experience in Norway shows that the Bio-Rad TeSeE™ SAP test, immunohistochemistry and western blotting have detected reindeer, moose and red deer cases. It was shown that testing both brainstem and lymphoid tissue from each animal increases the surveillance sensitivity. Shortcomings in the previous EU survey limited the reliability of inferences that could be made about the potential disease occurrence in Europe. Subsequently, testing activity in Europe was low, until the detection of the disease in Norway, triggering substantial testing efforts in that country. Available data neither support nor refute the conclusion that chronic wasting disease does not occur widely in the EU and do not preclude the possibility that the disease was present in Europe before the survey was conducted. It appears plausible that chronic wasting disease could have become established in Norway more than a decade ago.
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An in vitro model for assessing effective scrapie decontamination. Vet Microbiol 2017; 207:138-142. [DOI: 10.1016/j.vetmic.2017.05.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/13/2017] [Revised: 05/10/2017] [Accepted: 05/20/2017] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
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Plummer IH, Wright SD, Johnson CJ, Pedersen JA, Samuel MD. Temporal patterns of chronic wasting disease prion excretion in three cervid species. J Gen Virol 2017; 98:1932-1942. [PMID: 28708047 DOI: 10.1099/jgv.0.000845] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is the only naturally occurring transmissible spongiform encephalopathy affecting free-ranging wildlife populations. Transmission of CWD occurs by direct contact or through contaminated environments; however, little is known about the temporal patterns of CWD prion excretion and shedding in wild cervids. We tested the urine and faeces of three species of captive cervids (elk, mule and white-tailed deer) at 6, 12, 18 and 24 months after oral inoculation to evaluate the temporal, species- and genotype-specific factors affecting the excretion of CWD prions. Although none of the animals exhibited clinical signs of CWD during the study, we determined that all three cervid species were excreting CWD prions by 6 months post-inoculation. Faecal samples were consistently positive for CWD prions for all three cervid species (88 %), and were more likely to be positive than urine samples (28 %). Cervids with genotypes encoding for the prion protein (PRNP) that were considered to be more susceptible to CWD were more likely to excrete CWD prions (94 %) than cervids with genotypes considered to be less susceptible (64 %). All cervids with CWD prions in their urine also had positive faeces (n=5), but the converse was not true. Our study is the first to demonstrate CWD prion excretion in urine by asymptomatic elk and mule deer. Our results indicate that the excretion of CWD prions in faeces and, to a lesser extent, urine may provide an important avenue for depositing prions in the environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ian H Plummer
- Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology, University of Wisconsin - Madison, 1630 Linden Drive, Madison, WI 53706, USA
| | - Scott D Wright
- US Geological Survey, National Wildlife Health Center, 6006 Schroeder Road, Madison, Wisconsin 53711, USA.,Present address: 4730 Toepfer Road, Middleton, Wisconsin 53562, USA
| | - Chad J Johnson
- Departments of Soil Science, Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Chemistry, University of Wisconsin - Madison, 1525 Observatory Drive, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA
| | - Joel A Pedersen
- Departments of Soil Science, Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Chemistry, University of Wisconsin - Madison, 1525 Observatory Drive, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA
| | - Michael D Samuel
- Retired, US Geological Survey, Wisconsin Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit, University of Wisconsin - Madison, 204 Russell Labs, 1630 Linden Drive, Madison, WI 53706, USA
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Palmer MV, Cox RJ, Waters WR, Thacker TC, Whipple DL. Using White-tailed Deer ( Odocoileus virginianus) in Infectious Disease Research. JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR LABORATORY ANIMAL SCIENCE : JAALAS 2017; 56:350-360. [PMID: 28724483 PMCID: PMC5517323] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/12/2017] [Revised: 02/14/2017] [Accepted: 03/01/2017] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
Between 1940 and 2004, more than 335 emerging infectious disease events were reported in the scientific literature. The majority (60%) of these events involved zoonoses, most of which (72%) were of wildlife origin or had an epidemiologically important wildlife host. Because this trend of increasing emerging diseases likely will continue, understanding the pathogenesis, transmission, and diagnosis of these diseases in the relevant wildlife host is paramount. Achieving this goal often requires using wild animals as research subjects, which are vastly different from the traditional livestock or laboratory animals used by most universities and institutions. Using wildlife in infectious disease research presents many challenges but also provides opportunities to answer questions impossible to address by using traditional models. Cervid species, especially white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), elk (Cervus canadensis), and red deer (Cervus elaphus), are hosts or sentinels for several important pathogens, some of which are zoonotic. The long history of infectious disease research using white-tailed deer, conducted at ever-increasing levels of sophisticated biosecurity, demonstrates that this type of research can be conducted safely and that valuable insights can be gained. The greatest challenges to using wildlife in infectious disease research include animal source, facility design, nutrition, animal handling, and enrichment and other practices that both facilitate animal care and enhance animal wellbeing. The study of Mycobacterium bovis infection in white-tailed deer at the USDA's National Animal Disease Center serves to illustrate one approach to address these challenges.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mitchell V Palmer
- Infectious Bacterial Diseases of Livestock Unit, National Animal Disease Center, Agricultural Research Service, US Department of Agriculture, Ames, Iowa;,
| | - Rebecca J Cox
- Animal Resources Unit, National Animal Disease Center, Agricultural Research Service, US Department of Agriculture, Ames, Iowa
| | - W Ray Waters
- Infectious Bacterial Diseases of Livestock Unit, National Animal Disease Center, Agricultural Research Service, US Department of Agriculture, Ames, Iowa
| | - Tyler C Thacker
- Infectious Bacterial Diseases of Livestock Unit, National Animal Disease Center, Agricultural Research Service, US Department of Agriculture, Ames, Iowa
| | - Diana L Whipple
- Deputy Director Office, National Animal Disease Center, Agricultural Research Service, US Department of Agriculture, Ames, Iowa
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15
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West Greenlee MH, Lind M, Kokemuller R, Mammadova N, Kondru N, Manne S, Smith J, Kanthasamy A, Greenlee J. Temporal Resolution of Misfolded Prion Protein Transport, Accumulation, Glial Activation, and Neuronal Death in the Retinas of Mice Inoculated with Scrapie. THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PATHOLOGY 2016; 186:2302-9. [PMID: 27521336 PMCID: PMC5012505 DOI: 10.1016/j.ajpath.2016.05.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/12/2016] [Revised: 05/17/2016] [Accepted: 05/23/2016] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
Currently, there is a lack of pathological landmarks to describe the progression of prion disease in vivo. Our goal was to use an experimental model to determine the temporal relationship between the transport of misfolded prion protein (PrP(Sc)) from the brain to the retina, the accumulation of PrP(Sc) in the retina, the response of the surrounding retinal tissue, and loss of neurons. Retinal samples from mice inoculated with RML scrapie were collected at 30, 60, 90, 105, and 120 days post inoculation (dpi) or at the onset of clinical signs of disease (153 dpi). Retinal homogenates were tested for prion seeding activity. Antibody staining was used to assess accumulation of PrP(Sc) and the resulting response of retinal tissue. Loss of photoreceptors was used as a measure of neuronal death. PrP(Sc) seeding activity was first detected in all samples at 60 dpi. Accumulation of PrP(Sc) and coincident activation of retinal glia were first detected at 90 dpi. Activation of microglia was first detected at 105 dpi, but neuronal death was not detectable until 120 dpi. Our results demonstrate that by using the retina we can resolve the temporal separation between several key events in the pathogenesis of prion disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- M Heather West Greenlee
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine, Ames, Iowa; Virus and Prion Disease Unit, National Animal Disease Center, US Department of Agriculture, Ames, Iowa.
| | - Melissa Lind
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine, Ames, Iowa
| | - Robyn Kokemuller
- Virus and Prion Disease Unit, National Animal Disease Center, US Department of Agriculture, Ames, Iowa
| | - Najiba Mammadova
- Virus and Prion Disease Unit, National Animal Disease Center, US Department of Agriculture, Ames, Iowa
| | - Naveen Kondru
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine, Ames, Iowa
| | - Sireesha Manne
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine, Ames, Iowa
| | - Jodi Smith
- Virus and Prion Disease Unit, National Animal Disease Center, US Department of Agriculture, Ames, Iowa
| | - Anumantha Kanthasamy
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine, Ames, Iowa
| | - Justin Greenlee
- Virus and Prion Disease Unit, National Animal Disease Center, US Department of Agriculture, Ames, Iowa
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Konold T, Hawkins SAC, Thurston LC, Maddison BC, Gough KC, Duarte A, Simmons HA. Objects in Contact with Classical Scrapie Sheep Act as a Reservoir for Scrapie Transmission. Front Vet Sci 2015; 2:32. [PMID: 26664961 PMCID: PMC4672192 DOI: 10.3389/fvets.2015.00032] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/15/2015] [Accepted: 08/24/2015] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Classical scrapie is an environmentally transmissible prion disease of sheep and goats. Prions can persist and remain potentially infectious in the environment for many years and thus pose a risk of infecting animals after re-stocking. In vitro studies using serial protein misfolding cyclic amplification (sPMCA) have suggested that objects on a scrapie-affected sheep farm could contribute to disease transmission. This in vivo study aimed to determine the role of field furniture (water troughs, feeding troughs, fencing, and other objects that sheep may rub against) used by a scrapie-infected sheep flock as a vector for disease transmission to scrapie-free lambs with the prion protein genotype VRQ/VRQ, which is associated with high susceptibility to classical scrapie. When the field furniture was placed in clean accommodation, sheep became infected when exposed to either a water trough (four out of five) or to objects used for rubbing (four out of seven). This field furniture had been used by the scrapie-infected flock 8 weeks earlier and had previously been shown to harbor scrapie prions by sPMCA. Sheep also became infected (20 out of 23) through exposure to contaminated field furniture placed within pasture not used by scrapie-infected sheep for 40 months, even though swabs from this furniture tested negative by PMCA. This infection rate decreased (1 out of 12) on the same paddock after replacement with clean field furniture. Twelve grazing sheep exposed to field furniture not in contact with scrapie-infected sheep for 18 months remained scrapie free. The findings of this study highlight the role of field furniture used by scrapie-infected sheep to act as a reservoir for disease re-introduction although infectivity declines considerably if the field furniture has not been in contact with scrapie-infected sheep for several months. PMCA may not be as sensitive as VRQ/VRQ sheep to test for environmental contamination.
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Affiliation(s)
- Timm Konold
- Animal Sciences Unit, Animal and Plant Health Agency Weybridge , Addlestone , UK
| | - Stephen A C Hawkins
- Pathology Department, Animal and Plant Health Agency Weybridge , Addlestone , UK
| | - Lisa C Thurston
- Surveillance and Laboratory Services, Animal and Plant Health Agency Penrith , Penrith , UK
| | - Ben C Maddison
- ADAS UK, School of Veterinary Medicine and Science, University of Nottingham , Sutton Bonington , UK
| | - Kevin C Gough
- School of Veterinary Medicine and Science, University of Nottingham , Sutton Bonington , UK
| | - Anthony Duarte
- Animal Sciences Unit, Animal and Plant Health Agency Weybridge , Addlestone , UK
| | - Hugh A Simmons
- Animal Sciences Unit, Animal and Plant Health Agency Weybridge , Addlestone , UK
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17
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Green AJE. Prion protein aggregation assays in the diagnosis of human prion diseases. FUTURE NEUROLOGY 2015. [DOI: 10.2217/fnl.15.10] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
ABSTRACT Sporadic Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (sCJD) is the most common form of human prion disease and is associated with a progressive cognitive decline and death usually occurs within 6 months. Neuropathologically these diseases are characterized by the deposition of an abnormal form (PrPSc) of a normally expressed protein PrPC. At present there are no disease-specific diagnostic tests for prion diseases. Therefore, a test that will enable accurate and earlier diagnosis is needed. The ability of PrPSc to convert native PrPC into PrPSc has been exploited in a variety of protein aggregation assays such as protein misfolding cyclic amplification (PMCA), and real-time QuIC (RT-QuIC). Cerebrospinal fluid RT-QuIC is rapidly growing in acceptance as a reliable and accurate diagnostic test for sCJD.
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18
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Gough KC, Baker CA, Simmons HA, Hawkins SA, Maddison BC. Circulation of prions within dust on a scrapie affected farm. Vet Res 2015; 46:40. [PMID: 25889731 PMCID: PMC4397813 DOI: 10.1186/s13567-015-0176-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/06/2014] [Accepted: 03/30/2015] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Prion diseases are fatal neurological disorders that affect humans and animals. Scrapie of sheep/goats and Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) of deer/elk are contagious prion diseases where environmental reservoirs have a direct link to the transmission of disease. Using protein misfolding cyclic amplification we demonstrate that scrapie PrPSc can be detected within circulating dusts that are present on a farm that is naturally contaminated with sheep scrapie. The presence of infectious scrapie within airborne dusts may represent a possible route of infection and illustrates the difficulties that may be associated with the effective decontamination of such scrapie affected premises.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kevin C Gough
- School of Veterinary Medicine and Science, The University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington, Loughborough, Leicestershire, LE12 5RD, UK.
| | - Claire A Baker
- ADAS UK, School of Veterinary Medicine and Science, The University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington, Loughborough, Leicestershire, LE12 5RD, UK.
| | - Hugh A Simmons
- Animal and Plant Health Agency, Woodham Lane, New Haw, Addlestone, Surrey, KT15 3NB, UK.
| | - Steve A Hawkins
- Animal and Plant Health Agency, Woodham Lane, New Haw, Addlestone, Surrey, KT15 3NB, UK.
| | - Ben C Maddison
- ADAS UK, School of Veterinary Medicine and Science, The University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington, Loughborough, Leicestershire, LE12 5RD, UK.
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Rubenstein R, Chang B, Davies P, Wagner AK, Robertson CS, Wang KKW. A novel, ultrasensitive assay for tau: potential for assessing traumatic brain injury in tissues and biofluids. J Neurotrauma 2014; 32:342-52. [PMID: 25177776 DOI: 10.1089/neu.2014.3548] [Citation(s) in RCA: 75] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a cause of death and disability and can lead to tauopathy-related dementia at an early age. Pathologically, TBI results in axonal injury that is coupled to tau hyperphosphorylation, leading to microtubule instability and tau-mediated neurodegeneration. This suggests that the forms of this protein might serve as neuroinjury-related biomarkers for diagnosis of injury severity and prognosis of the neurological damage prior to clinical expression. We initially determined whether we could detect tau in body fluids using a highly sensitive assay. We used a novel immunoassay, enhanced immunoassay using multi-arrayed fiberoptics (EIMAF) either alone or in combination with rolling circle amplification (a-EIMAF) for the detection of total (T) and phosphorylated (P) tau proteins from brains and biofluids (blood, CSF) of rodents following controlled cortical impact (CCI) and human patients post severe TBI (sTBI). This assay technology for tau is the most sensitive to date with a detection limit of approximately 100 ag/mL for either T-tau and P-tau. In the rodent models, T-tau and P-tau levels in brain and blood increased following CCI during the acute phase and remained high during the chronic phase (30 d). In human CSF samples, T-tau and P-tau increased during the sampling period (5-6 d). T-tau and P-tau in human serum rose during the acute phase and decreased during the chronic stage but was still detectable beyond six months post sTBI. Thus, EIMAF has the potential for assessing both the severity of the proximal injury and the prognosis using easily accessible samples.
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Affiliation(s)
- Richard Rubenstein
- 1 Departments of Neurology and Physiology/Pharmacology, State University of New York Downstate Medical Center , Brooklyn, New York
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20
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Saá P, Cervenakova L. Protein misfolding cyclic amplification (PMCA): Current status and future directions. Virus Res 2014; 207:47-61. [PMID: 25445341 DOI: 10.1016/j.virusres.2014.11.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/04/2014] [Revised: 10/05/2014] [Accepted: 11/06/2014] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
Abstract
Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) most commonly known as prion diseases are invariably fatal neurological disorders that affect humans and animals. These disorders differ from other neurodegenerative conformational diseases caused by the accumulation in the brain of misfolded proteins, sometimes with amyloid properties, in their ability to infect susceptible species by various routes. While the infectious properties of amyloidogenic proteins, other than misfolded prion protein (PrP(TSE)), are currently under scrutiny, their potential to transmit from cell to cell, one of the intrinsic properties of the prion, has been recently shown in vitro and in vivo. Over the decades, various cell culture and laboratory animal models have been developed to study TSEs. These assays have been widely used in a variety of applications but showed to be time consuming and entailed elevated costs. Novel economic and fast alternatives became available with the development of in vitro assays that are based on the property of conformationally abnormal PrP(TSE) to recruit normal cellular PrP(C) to misfold. These include the cell-free conversion assay, protein misfolding cyclic amplification (PMCA) and quaking induced conversion assay (QuIC), of which the PMCA has been the only technology shown to generate infectious prions. Moreover, it allows indefinite amplification of PrP(TSE) with strain-specific biochemical and biological properties of the original molecules and under certain conditions may give rise to new spontaneously generated prions. The method also allows addressing the species barrier phenomena and assessing possible risks of animal-to-animal and animal-to-human transmission. Additionally, its unprecedented sensitivity has made possible the detection of as little as one infectious dose of PrP(TSE) and the biochemical identification of this protein in different tissues and biological fluids, including blood, cerebral spinal fluid (CSF), semen, milk, urine and saliva during the pre-clinical and clinical phases of the disease. The mechanistic similarities between TSEs and other conformational disorders have resulted in the adaptation of the PMCA to the amplification and detection of various amyloidogenic proteins. Here we provide a compelling discussion of the different applications of this technology to the study of TSEs and other neurodegenerative diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paula Saá
- Transmissible Diseases Department, American National Red Cross, Biomedical Services, Holland Laboratory, 15601 Crabbs Branch Way, Rockville, MD 20855, United States.
| | - Larisa Cervenakova
- Transmissible Diseases Department, American National Red Cross, Biomedical Services, Holland Laboratory, 15601 Crabbs Branch Way, Rockville, MD 20855, United States
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21
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Hawkins SAC, Simmons HA, Gough KC, Maddison BC. Persistence of ovine scrapie infectivity in a farm environment following cleaning and decontamination. Vet Rec 2014; 176:99. [PMID: 25362003 DOI: 10.1136/vr.102743] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
Scrapie of sheep/goats and chronic wasting disease of deer/elk are contagious prion diseases where environmental reservoirs are directly implicated in the transmission of disease. In this study, the effectiveness of recommended scrapie farm decontamination regimens was evaluated by a sheep bioassay using buildings naturally contaminated with scrapie. Pens within a farm building were treated with either 20,000 parts per million free chorine solution for one hour or were treated with the same but were followed by painting and full re-galvanisation or replacement of metalwork within the pen. Scrapie susceptible lambs of the PRNP genotype VRQ/VRQ were reared within these pens and their scrapie status was monitored by recto-anal mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue. All animals became infected over an 18-month period, even in the pen that had been subject to the most stringent decontamination process. These data suggest that recommended current guidelines for the decontamination of farm buildings following outbreaks of scrapie do little to reduce the titre of infectious scrapie material and that environmental recontamination could also be an issue associated with these premises.
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Affiliation(s)
- Steve A C Hawkins
- Animal and Plant Health Agency, Woodham Lane, New Haw, Addlestone, Surrey KT15 3NB, UK
| | - Hugh A Simmons
- Animal and Plant Health Agency, Woodham Lane, New Haw, Addlestone, Surrey KT15 3NB, UK
| | - Kevin C Gough
- School of Veterinary Medicine and Science, The University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington, Loughborough, Leicestershire LE12 5RD, UK
| | - Ben C Maddison
- ADAS UK, School of Veterinary Medicine and Science, The University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington, Loughborough, Leicestershire LE12 5RD, UK
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22
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Saá P, Yakovleva O, de Castro J, Vasilyeva I, De Paoli SH, Simak J, Cervenakova L. First demonstration of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy-associated prion protein (PrPTSE) in extracellular vesicles from plasma of mice infected with mouse-adapted variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease by in vitro amplification. J Biol Chem 2014; 289:29247-60. [PMID: 25157106 PMCID: PMC4200276 DOI: 10.1074/jbc.m114.589564] [Citation(s) in RCA: 49] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2014] [Revised: 08/12/2014] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
The development of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) in three recipients of non-leukoreduced red blood cells from asymptomatic donors who subsequently developed the disease has confirmed existing concerns about the possible spread of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) via blood products. In addition, the presence of disease-associated misfolded prion protein (PrP(TSE)), generally associated with infectivity, has been demonstrated in the blood of vCJD patients. However, its origin and distribution in this biological fluid are still unknown. Various studies have identified cellular prion protein (PrP(C)) among the protein cargo in human blood-circulating extracellular vesicles released from endothelial cells and platelets, and exosomes isolated from the conditioned media of TSE-infected cells have caused the disease when injected into experimental mice. In this study, we demonstrate the detection of PrP(TSE) in extracellular vesicles isolated from plasma samples collected during the preclinical and clinical phases of the disease from mice infected with mouse-adapted vCJD and confirm the presence of the exosomal marker Hsp70 in these preparations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paula Saá
- From the Transmissible Diseases Department, Biomedical Services Holland Laboratory, American National Red Cross, Rockville, Maryland 20855 and
| | - Oksana Yakovleva
- From the Transmissible Diseases Department, Biomedical Services Holland Laboratory, American National Red Cross, Rockville, Maryland 20855 and
| | - Jorge de Castro
- From the Transmissible Diseases Department, Biomedical Services Holland Laboratory, American National Red Cross, Rockville, Maryland 20855 and
| | - Irina Vasilyeva
- From the Transmissible Diseases Department, Biomedical Services Holland Laboratory, American National Red Cross, Rockville, Maryland 20855 and
| | - Silvia H De Paoli
- the Laboratory of Cellular Hematology, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, United States Food and Drug Administration, Silver Spring, Maryland 20993
| | - Jan Simak
- the Laboratory of Cellular Hematology, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, United States Food and Drug Administration, Silver Spring, Maryland 20993
| | - Larisa Cervenakova
- From the Transmissible Diseases Department, Biomedical Services Holland Laboratory, American National Red Cross, Rockville, Maryland 20855 and
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John TR, Schätzl HM, Gilch S. Early detection of chronic wasting disease prions in urine of pre-symptomatic deer by real-time quaking-induced conversion assay. Prion 2014; 7:253-8. [PMID: 23764839 PMCID: PMC3783112 DOI: 10.4161/pri.24430] [Citation(s) in RCA: 56] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a prion disease of captive and free-ranging deer (Odocoileus spp), elk (Cervus elaphus nelsonii) and moose (Alces alces shirasi). Unlike in most other prion diseases, in CWD prions are shed in urine and feces, which most likely contributes to the horizontal transmission within and between cervid species. To date, CWD ante-mortem diagnosis is only possible by immunohistochemical detection of protease resistant prion protein (PrPSc) in tonsil or recto-anal mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (RAMALT) biopsies, which requires anesthesia of animals. We report on detection of CWD prions in urine collected from pre-symptomatic deer and in fecal extracts by using real time quaking-induced conversion (RT-QuIC). This assay can be useful for non-invasive pre-symptomatic diagnosis and surveillance of CWD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Theodore R John
- Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY, USA
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24
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Liu S, Breitbart A, Sun Y, Mehta PD, Boutajangout A, Scholtzova H, Wisniewski T. Blocking the apolipoprotein E/amyloid β interaction in triple transgenic mice ameliorates Alzheimer's disease related amyloid β and tau pathology. J Neurochem 2013; 128:577-91. [PMID: 24117759 DOI: 10.1111/jnc.12484] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/12/2013] [Revised: 10/03/2013] [Accepted: 10/04/2013] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Inheritance of the apolipoprotein E4 (apoE4) genotype has been identified as the major genetic risk factor for late-onset Alzheimer's disease (AD). Studies have shown that the binding between apoE and amyloid-β (Aβ) peptides occurs at residues 244-272 of apoE and residues 12-28 of Aβ. ApoE4 has been implicated in promoting Aβ deposition and impairing clearance of Aβ. We hypothesized that blocking the apoE/Aβ interaction would serve as an effective new approach to AD therapy. We have previously shown that treatment with Aβ12-28P can reduce amyloid plaques in APP/PS1 transgenic (Tg) mice and vascular amyloid in TgSwDI mice with congophilic amyloid angiopathy. In the present study, we investigated whether the Aβ12-28P elicits a therapeutic effect on tau-related pathology in addition to amyloid pathology using old triple transgenic AD mice (3xTg, with PS1M146V , APPSwe and tauP30IL transgenes) with established pathology from the ages of 21 to 26 months. We show that treatment with Aβ12-28P substantially reduces tau pathology both immunohistochemically and biochemically, as well as reducing the amyloid burden and suppressing the activation of astrocytes and microglia. These affects correlate with a behavioral amelioration in the treated Tg mice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shan Liu
- Department of Neurology, New York University School of Medicine, ERSP, New York, NY, USA
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25
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Identification of misfolded proteins in body fluids for the diagnosis of prion diseases. Int J Cell Biol 2013; 2013:839329. [PMID: 24027585 PMCID: PMC3763259 DOI: 10.1155/2013/839329] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/21/2013] [Revised: 07/10/2013] [Accepted: 07/11/2013] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) or prion diseases are fatal rare neurodegenerative disorders affecting man and animals and caused by a transmissible infectious agent. TSE diseases are characterized by spongiform brain lesions with neuronal loss and the abnormal deposition in the CNS, and to less extent in other tissues, of an insoluble and protease resistant form of the cellular prion protein (PrPC), named PrPTSE. In man, TSE diseases affect usually people over 60 years of age with no evident disease-associated risk factors. In some cases, however, TSE diseases are unequivocally linked to infectious episodes related to the use of prion-contaminated medicines, medical devices, or meat products as in the variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD). Clinical signs occur months or years after infection, and during this silent period PrPTSE, the only reliable marker of infection, is not easily measurable in blood or other accessible tissues or body fluids causing public health concerns. To overcome the limit of PrPTSE detection, several highly sensitive assays have been developed, but attempts to apply these techniques to blood of infected hosts have been unsuccessful or not yet validated. An update on the latest advances for the detection of misfolded prion protein in body fluids is provided.
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Rubenstein R, Chang B. Re-assessment of PrP(Sc) distribution in sporadic and variant CJD. PLoS One 2013; 8:e66352. [PMID: 23843953 PMCID: PMC3700981 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0066352] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/18/2013] [Accepted: 05/07/2013] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Human prion diseases are fatal neurodegenerative disorders associated with an accumulation of PrPSc in the central nervous system (CNS). Of the human prion diseases, sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (sCJD), which has no known origin, is the most common form while variant CJD (vCJD) is an acquired human prion disease reported to differ from other human prion diseases in its neurological, neuropathological, and biochemical phenotype. Peripheral tissue involvement in prion disease, as judged by PrPSc accumulation in the tonsil, spleen, and lymph node has been reported in vCJD as well as several animal models of prion diseases. However, this distribution of PrPSc has not been consistently reported for sCJD. We reexamined CNS and non-CNS tissue distribution and levels of PrPSc in both sCJD and vCJD. Using a sensitive immunoassay, termed SOFIA, we also assessed PrPSc levels in human body fluids from sCJD as well as in vCJD-infected humanized transgenic mice (Tg666). Unexpectedly, the levels of PrPSc in non-CNS human tissues (spleens, lymph nodes, tonsils) from both sCJD and vCJD did not differ significantly and, as expected, were several logs lower than in the brain. Using protein misfolding cyclic amplification (PMCA) followed by SOFIA, PrPSc was detected in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), but not in urine or blood, in sCJD patients. In addition, using PMCA and SOFIA, we demonstrated that blood from vCJD-infected Tg666 mice showing clinical disease contained prion disease-associated seeding activity although the data was not statistically significant likely due to the limited number of samples examined. These studies provide a comparison of PrPSc in sCJD vs. vCJD as well as analysis of body fluids. Further, these studies also provide circumstantial evidence that in human prion diseases, as in the animal prion diseases, a direct comparison and intraspecies correlation cannot be made between the levels of PrPSc and infectivity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Richard Rubenstein
- Department of Neurology and Physiology/Pharmacology, State University of New York Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, New York, United States of America.
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Konold T, Moore SJ, Bellworthy SJ, Terry LA, Thorne L, Ramsay A, Salguero FJ, Simmons MM, Simmons HA. Evidence of effective scrapie transmission via colostrum and milk in sheep. BMC Vet Res 2013; 9:99. [PMID: 23651710 PMCID: PMC3750761 DOI: 10.1186/1746-6148-9-99] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/21/2013] [Accepted: 04/30/2013] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Evidence for scrapie transmission from VRQ/VRQ ewes to lambs via milk was first reported in 2008 but in that study there were concerns that lateral transmission may have contributed to the high transmission rate observed since five control lambs housed with the milk recipients also became infected. This report provides further information obtained from two follow-up studies, one where milk recipients were housed separately after milk consumption to confirm the validity of the high scrapie transmission rate via milk and the second to assess any difference in infectivity from colostrum and subsequent milk. Protein misfolding cyclic amplification (PMCA) was also used to detect prion protein in milk samples as a comparison with the infectivity data and extended to milk samples from ewes without a VRQ allele. Results Seven pairs of lambs fed colostrum and milk individually from seven scrapie-affected sheep (pre-clinical or clinical) presented with disease-associated prion protein, PrPd, in rectal lymphoid tissue at 4–5 months of age. Five further pairs of lambs fed either colostrum or subsequent milk from five pre-clinical scrapie-affected sheep equally presented with PrPd in lymphoid tissue by 9 months of age. Nine sheep were lost due to intercurrent diseases but all remaining milk or colostrum recipients, including those in the original study with the lateral transmission controls, developed clinical signs of scrapie from 19 months of age and scrapie was confirmed by brain examination. Unexposed control sheep totalling 19 across all three studies showed no evidence of infection. Scrapie PrP was amplified repeatedly by PMCA in all tested milk samples from scrapie-affected VRQ/VRQ sheep, and in one scrapie-affected ARQ/ARQ sheep. By contrast, milk samples from five VRQ/VRQ and 11 ARQ/ARQ scrapie-free sheep did not have detectable scrapie PrP on repeated tests. Conclusions Feeding of milk from scrapie-affected sheep results in a high transmission rate in VRQ/VRQ sheep and both colostrum and milk transmit scrapie. Detection of scrapie prion protein in individual milk samples from scrapie-affected ewes confirms PMCA as a valuable in vitro test.
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Affiliation(s)
- Timm Konold
- Specialist Scientific Support Department, Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency Weybridge, New Haw Addlestone, Surrey KT15 3NB, UK.
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Ma D, Li L. Searching for reliable premortem protein biomarkers for prion diseases: progress and challenges to date. Expert Rev Proteomics 2013; 9:267-80. [PMID: 22809206 DOI: 10.1586/epr.12.20] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
Prion diseases are a unique family of fatal neurodegenerative diseases caused by abnormal folding of normal cellular prion proteins in the brain. Due to the high risk of prion disease transmission and the lack of effective treatment to cure or delay the disease progression, prion diseases pose a serious threat to public health. To control and prevent prion diseases, an early diagnosis is urgently needed. Proteomic analysis has emerged as a powerful technology to decipher biological and pathophysiological processes and identify protein biomarkers indicative of disease. In this article, the authors review the use of the latest proteomic technologies for the identification of promising prion disease biomarkers, the challenges that exist in biomarker development pipelines and the new directions for utilizing proteomics for future biomarker discovery in the context of prion disease diagnostics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Di Ma
- School of Pharmacy, University of Wisconsin at Madison, 777 Highland Avenue, Madison, WI 53705, USA
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29
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Rubenstein R. Proteomic analysis of prion diseases: creating clarity or causing confusion? Electrophoresis 2012; 33:3631-43. [PMID: 23161058 DOI: 10.1002/elps.201200310] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2012] [Revised: 06/25/2012] [Accepted: 07/04/2012] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Abstract
Prion diseases, or transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, are progressive, fatal neurodegenerative diseases. There are both human and animal forms of the disease and all are associated with the conversion of a normal host-coded cellular prion protein (PrP(C) ) into an abnormal protease-resistant isoform (PrP(Sc) ). Although methodologies are sensitive and specific for postmortem disease diagnosis, the use of PrP(Sc) as a preclinical or general biomarker for surveillance is difficult, due to the fact that it is present in extremely small amounts in accessible tissues or body fluids such as blood, urine, saliva, and cerebrospinal fluid. Recently, amplification techniques have been developed, which have enabled increased sensitivity for PrP(Sc) detection. However, it has recently been reported that proteinase K sensitive, pathological isoforms of PrP may have a significant role in the pathogenesis of some prion diseases. Accordingly, the development of new diagnostic tests that do not rely on PrP(Sc) and proteinase K digestion is desirable. The search for biomarkers (other than PrP(Sc) ) as tools for diagnosis of prion diseases has a long history. Ideally biomarkers able to detect all transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, even at preclinical stages of infection are desirable but not yet possible due to the heterogeneity of the disease and lengthy disease progression. Recent advances in neuroproteomics have led to an overwhelming amount of information, which may offer insight on protein-protein interactions. While the amount of data obtained is impressive, the ability to relate it to the disease and validating its usefulness in diagnostic biomarker development remains a formidable challenge.
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Affiliation(s)
- Richard Rubenstein
- Department of Neurology, SUNY Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY 11203, USA.
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Vascellari S, Orrù CD, Hughson AG, King D, Barron R, Wilham JM, Baron GS, Race B, Pani A, Caughey B. Prion seeding activities of mouse scrapie strains with divergent PrPSc protease sensitivities and amyloid plaque content using RT-QuIC and eQuIC. PLoS One 2012; 7:e48969. [PMID: 23139828 PMCID: PMC3489776 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0048969] [Citation(s) in RCA: 49] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2012] [Accepted: 10/02/2012] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Different transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE)-associated forms of prion protein (e.g. PrPSc) can vary markedly in ultrastructure and biochemical characteristics, but each is propagated in the host. PrPSc propagation involves conversion from its normal isoform, PrPC, by a seeded or templated polymerization mechanism. Such a mechanism is also the basis of the RT-QuIC and eQuIC prion assays which use recombinant PrP (rPrPSen) as a substrate. These ultrasensitive detection assays have been developed for TSE prions of several host species and sample tissues, but not for murine models which are central to TSE pathogenesis research. Here we have adapted RT-QuIC and eQuIC to various murine prions and evaluated how seeding activity depends on glycophosphatidylinositol (GPI) anchoring and the abundance of amyloid plaques and protease-resistant PrPSc (PrPRes). Scrapie brain dilutions up to 10−8 and 10−13 were detected by RT-QuIC and eQuIC, respectively. Comparisons of scrapie-affected wild-type mice and transgenic mice expressing GPI anchorless PrP showed that, although similar concentrations of seeding activity accumulated in brain, the heavily amyloid-laden anchorless mouse tissue seeded more rapid reactions. Next we compared seeding activities in the brains of mice with similar infectivity titers, but widely divergent PrPRes levels. For this purpose we compared the 263K and 139A scrapie strains in transgenic mice expressing P101L PrPC. Although the brains of 263K-affected mice had little immunoblot-detectable PrPRes, RT-QuIC indicated that seeding activity was comparable to that associated with a high-PrPRes strain, 139A. Thus, in this comparison, RT-QuIC seeding activity correlated more closely with infectivity than with PrPRes levels. We also found that eQuIC, which incorporates a PrPSc immunoprecipitation step, detected seeding activity in plasma from wild-type and anchorless PrP transgenic mice inoculated with 22L, 79A and/or RML scrapie strains. Overall, we conclude that these new mouse-adapted prion seeding assays detect diverse types of PrPSc.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah Vascellari
- Laboratory of Persistent Viral Diseases, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Hamilton, Montana, United States of America
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Cagliari, Monserrato, Italy
| | - Christina D. Orrù
- Laboratory of Persistent Viral Diseases, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Hamilton, Montana, United States of America
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Cagliari, Monserrato, Italy
| | - Andrew G. Hughson
- Laboratory of Persistent Viral Diseases, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Hamilton, Montana, United States of America
| | - Declan King
- Division of Neurobiology, The Roslin Institute and R(D)SVS, University of Edinburgh, Roslin, Midlothian, United Kingdom
| | - Rona Barron
- Division of Neurobiology, The Roslin Institute and R(D)SVS, University of Edinburgh, Roslin, Midlothian, United Kingdom
| | - Jason M. Wilham
- Laboratory of Persistent Viral Diseases, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Hamilton, Montana, United States of America
| | - Gerald S. Baron
- Laboratory of Persistent Viral Diseases, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Hamilton, Montana, United States of America
| | - Brent Race
- Laboratory of Persistent Viral Diseases, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Hamilton, Montana, United States of America
| | - Alessandra Pani
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Cagliari, Monserrato, Italy
| | - Byron Caughey
- Laboratory of Persistent Viral Diseases, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Hamilton, Montana, United States of America
- * E-mail:
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Maluquer de Motes C, Espinosa JC, Esteban A, Calvo M, Girones R, Torres JM. Persistence of the bovine spongiform encephalopathy infectious agent in sewage. ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH 2012; 117:1-7. [PMID: 22776326 DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2012.06.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/12/2011] [Revised: 05/28/2012] [Accepted: 06/18/2012] [Indexed: 06/01/2023]
Abstract
Horizontal transmission of prion diseases through the environment represents a considerable concern. Prions are extremely resistant to inactivation and are thought to enter the environment after burial of animal mortalities or through biosolids from wastewater treatment plants. In addition, deposition of prions in the environment through biological fluids and/or faeces has been proved in the last years. Little is known about the behaviour of prion infectivity in the environment. In this study, the persistence of BSE infectious agent in sewage has been assessed by both PrP(Res) immunoblotting and mouse bioassay in a long-term incubation study. Results indicated that no PrP(Res) was detected after 150 day of incubation and consistent with this, a statistical regression model estimated 2-logs decay in 151 day. In contrast, no reduction in infectivity was observed during this period. Similarly, BSE infectivity remained unaltered after incubation in PBS for 265 day, whereas PrP(Res) levels dropped progressively over the length of the study. These results indicate that in sewage and PBS, prion infectivity persists longer and with different dynamics than its commonly used marker PrP(Res). Thus, mathematical models computed on the basis of PrP(Res) detection were unable to predict inactivation of prion infectivity. It is also reasonable to assume that conventional wastewater treatments with low retention times could have a very limited impact on prion infectivity. This data is essential for the development of accurate risk assessment analysis for BSE and other prion diseases in the environment.
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Madsen-Bouterse SA, Zhuang D, O'Rourke KI, Schneider DA. Differential immunoreactivity of goat derived scrapie following in vitro misfolding versus mouse bioassay. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 2012; 423:770-4. [PMID: 22713450 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2012.06.034] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/17/2012] [Accepted: 06/11/2012] [Indexed: 02/01/2023]
Abstract
The protein misfolding cyclic amplification (PMCA) assay allows for detection of prion protein misfolding activity in tissues and fluids from sheep with scrapie where it was previously undetected by conventional western blot and immunohistochemistry assays. Studies of goats with scrapie have yet to take advantage of PMCA, which could aid in discerning the risk of transmission between goats and goats to sheep. The aim of the current study was to adapt PMCA for evaluation of scrapie derived from goats. Diluted brain homogenate from scrapie-infected goats (i.e., the scrapie seed, PrP(Sc)) was subjected to PMCA using normal brain homogenate from ovinized transgenic mice (tg338) as the source of normal cellular prion protein (the substrate, PrP(C)). The assay end-point was detection of the proteinase K-resistant misfolded prion protein core (PrP(res)) by western blot. Protein misfolding activity was consistently observed in caprine brain homogenate diluted 10,000-fold after 5 PMCA rounds. Epitope mapping by western blot analyses demonstrated that PrP(res) post-PMCA was readily detected with an N-terminus anti-PrP monoclonal antibody (P4), similar to scrapie inoculum from goats. This was in contrast to limited detection of PrP(res) with P4 following mouse bioassay. The inverse was observed with a monoclonal antibody to the C-terminus (F99/97.6.1). Thus, brain homogenate prepared from uninoculated tg338 served as an appropriate substrate for serial PMCA of PrP(Sc) derived from goats. These observations suggest that concurrent PMCA and bioassay with tg338 could improve characterization of goat derived scrapie.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sally A Madsen-Bouterse
- Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Pathology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164, USA.
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Orrù CD, Wilham JM, Vascellari S, Hughson AG, Caughey B. New generation QuIC assays for prion seeding activity. Prion 2012; 6:147-52. [PMID: 22421206 DOI: 10.4161/pri.19430] [Citation(s) in RCA: 82] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/13/2023] Open
Abstract
The ability of abnormal TSE-associated forms of PrP to seed the formation of amyloid fibrils from recombinant PrP(Sen) has served as the basis for several relatively rapid and highly sensitive tests for prion diseases. These tests include rPrP-PMCA (rPMCA), standard quaking-induced conversion (S-QuIC), amyloid seeding assay (ASA), real-time QuIC (RT-QuIC) and enhanced QuIC (eQuIC). Here, we summarize recent improvements in the RT-QuIC-based assays that enhance the practicality, sensitivity and quantitative attributes of assays QuIC and promote the detection of prion seeding activity in dilute, inhibitor-laden fluids such as blood plasma.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christina D Orrù
- Laboratory of Persistent Viral Diseases, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Hamilton, MT, USA
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Makarava N, Savtchenko R, Alexeeva I, Rohwer RG, Baskakov IV. Fast and ultrasensitive method for quantitating prion infectivity titre. Nat Commun 2012; 3:741. [PMID: 22415832 PMCID: PMC3518416 DOI: 10.1038/ncomms1730] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/05/2011] [Accepted: 02/06/2012] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Bioassay by end-point dilution has been used for decades for routine determination of prion infectivity titre. Here we show that the new protein misfolding cyclic amplification with beads (PMCAb) technique can be used to estimate titres of the infection-specific forms of the prion protein with a higher level of precision and in 3-6 days as opposed to 2 years, when compared with the bioassay. For two hamster strains, 263 K and SSLOW, the median reactive doses determined by PCMAb (PMCAb(50)) were found to be 10(12.8) and 10(12.2) per gram of brain tissue, which are 160- and 4,000-fold higher than the corresponding median infectious dose (ID(50)) values measured by bioassay. The 10(2)- to 10(3)-fold differences between ID(50) and PMCAb(50) values could be due to a large excess of PMCAb-reactive prion protein seeds with little or no infectivity. Alternatively, the differences between ID(50) and PMCAb(50) could be due to higher rate of clearance of infection-specific prion protein seeds in animals versus PMCAb reactions. A well-calibrated PMCAb reaction can be an efficient and cost-effective method for the estimation of infection-specific prion protein titre.
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Affiliation(s)
- Natallia Makarava
- Center for Biomedical Engineering and Technology, University of Maryland, 725 W. Lombard Street, Baltimore 21201, USA
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35
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Rubenstein R, Bulgin MS, Chang B, Sorensen-Melson S, Petersen RB, LaFauci G. PrP(Sc) detection and infectivity in semen from scrapie-infected sheep. J Gen Virol 2012; 93:1375-1383. [PMID: 22323531 DOI: 10.1099/vir.0.038802-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
A scrapie-positive ewe was found in a flock that had been scrapie-free for 13 years, but housed adjacent to scrapie-positive animals, separated by a wire fence. Live animal testing of the entire flock of 24 animals revealed seven more subclinical scrapie-positive ewes. We hypothesized that they may have contracted the disease from scrapie-positive rams used for breeding 4 months prior, possibly through the semen. The genotypes of the ewe flock were highly scrapie-susceptible and the rams were infected with the 'Caine' scrapie strain having a short incubation time of 4.3-14.6 months in sheep with 136/171 VQ/VQ and AQ/VQ genotypes. PrP(Sc) accumulates in a variety of tissues in addition to the central nervous system. Although transmission of prion diseases, or transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, has been achieved via peripheral organ or tissue homogenates as well as by blood transfusion, neither infectivity nor PrP(Sc) have been found in semen from scrapie-infected animals. Using serial protein misfolding cyclic amplification followed by a surround optical fibre immunoassay, we demonstrate that semen from rams infected with a short-incubation-time scrapie strain contains prion disease-associated-seeding activity that generated PrP(Sc) in sPMCA (serial protein misfolding cyclic amplification). Injection of the ovinized transgenic mouse line TgSShpPrP with semen from scrapie-infected sheep resulted in PrP(Sc)-seeding activity in clinical and, probably as a result of the low titre, non-clinical mouse brain. These results suggest that the transmissible agent, or at least the seeding activity, for sheep scrapie is present in semen. This may be a strain-specific phenomenon.
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Affiliation(s)
- Richard Rubenstein
- Departments of Neurology and Physiology/Pharmacology, SUNY Downstate Medical Center, 450 Clarkson Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11203, USA
| | - Marie S Bulgin
- University of Idaho, Caine Veterinary Teaching and Research Center, 1020 E. Homedale Road, Caldwell, ID 83607, USA
| | - Binggong Chang
- Departments of Neurology and Physiology/Pharmacology, SUNY Downstate Medical Center, 450 Clarkson Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11203, USA
| | - Sharon Sorensen-Melson
- University of Idaho, Caine Veterinary Teaching and Research Center, 1020 E. Homedale Road, Caldwell, ID 83607, USA
| | - Robert B Petersen
- Departments of Pathology Neuroscience, and Neurology, Case Western Reserve University, 2103 Cornell Road, Cleveland, OH 44120, USA
| | - Giuseppe LaFauci
- New York State Institute for Basic Research in Developmental Disabilities, 1050 Forest Hill Road, Staten Island, NY 10314, USA
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