Open AccessComparative analysis of prions in nervous and lymphoid tissues of chronic wasting disease-infected cervids
Author(s) -
Kristen A. Davenport,
Jeffrey R. Christiansen,
Jifeng Bian,
Michael C. Young,
Joseph Gallegos,
Sehun Kim,
Aru Balachandran,
Candace K. Mathiason,
Edward A. Hoover,
Glenn C. Telling
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
journal of general virology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.55
H-Index - 167
eISSN - 1465-2099
pISSN - 0022-1317
DOI - 10.1099/jgv.0.001053
Subject(s) - chronic wasting disease , odocoileus , biology , horizontal transmission , transmission (telecommunications) , virology , transmissible spongiform encephalopathy , cervus elaphus , disease , lymphatic system , prion protein , immunology , zoology , virus , scrapie , pathology , ecology , medicine , electrical engineering , engineering
The prevalence, host range and geographical bounds of chronic wasting disease (CWD), the prion disease of cervids, are expanding. Horizontal transmission likely contributes the majority of new CWD cases, but the mechanism by which prions are transmitted among CWD-affected cervids remains unclear. To address the extent to which prion amplification in peripheral tissues contributes to contagious transmission, we assessed the prion levels in central nervous and lymphoreticular system tissues in white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), red deer (Cervus elaphus elaphus) and elk (Cervus canadensis). Using real-time quaking-induced conversion, cervid prion cell assay and transgenic mouse bioassay, we found that the retropharyngeal lymph nodes of red deer, white-tailed deer and elk contained similar prion titres to brain from the same individuals. We propose that marked lymphotropism is essential for the horizontal transmission of prion diseases and postulate that shed CWD prions are produced in the periphery.