Classical BSE dismissed as the cause of CWD in Norwegian red deer despite strain similarities between both prion agents

Marín-Moreno, Alba; Benestad, Sylvie L.; Barrio, Tomas; Pirisinu, Laura; Espinosa, Juan Carlos; Tran, Linh; Huor, Alvina; Di Bari, Michele Angelo; Eraña, Hasier; Maddison, Ben C.; D'Agostino, Claudia; Fernández-Borges, Natalia; Canoyra, Sara; Jerez-Garrido, Nuria; Castilla, Joaquín; Spiropoulos, John; Bishop, Keith; Gough, Kevin C.; Nonno, Romolo; Våge, Jorn; Andréoletti, Olivier; Torres, Juan María

Abstract

The first case of CWD in a Norwegian red deer was detected by a routine ELISA test and confirmed by western blotting and immunohistochemistry in the brain stem of the animal. Two different western blotting tests were conducted independently in two different laboratories, showing that the red deer glycoprofile was different from the Norwegian CWD reindeer and CWD moose and from North American CWD. The isolate showed nevertheless features similar to the classical BSE (BSE-C) strain. Furthermore, BSE-C could not be excluded based on the PrPSc immunohistochemistry staining in the brainstem and the absence of detectable PrPSc in the lymphoid tissues. Because of the known ability of BSE-C to cross species barriers as well as its zoonotic potential, the CWD red deer isolate was submitted to the EURL Strain Typing Expert Group (STEG) as a BSE-C suspect for further investigation. In addition, different strain typing in vivo and in vitro strategies aiming at identifying the BSE-C strain in the red deer isolate were performed independently in three research groups and BSE-C was not found in it. These results suggest that the Norwegian CWD red deer case was infected with a previously unknown CWD type and further investigation is needed to determine the characteristics of this potential new CWD strain.

Citation

Marín-Moreno, A., Benestad, S. L., Barrio, T., Pirisinu, L., Espinosa, J. C., Tran, L., Huor, A., Di Bari, M. A., Eraña, H., Maddison, B. C., D'Agostino, C., Fernández-Borges, N., Canoyra, S., Jerez-Garrido, N., Castilla, J., Spiropoulos, J., Bishop, K., Gough, K. C., Nonno, R., Våge, J., …Torres, J. M. (2024). Classical BSE dismissed as the cause of CWD in Norwegian red deer despite strain similarities between both prion agents. Veterinary Research, 55, Article 62. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13567-024-01320-y

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Apr 16, 2024
• Online Publication Date: May 15, 2024
• Publication Date: May 15, 2024
• Deposit Date: May 17, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: May 17, 2024
• Journal: Veterinary research
• Print ISSN: 0928-4249
• Electronic ISSN: 1297-9716
• Publisher: Springer Verlag
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 55
• Article Number: 62
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13567-024-01320-y
• Keywords: Prion; chronic wasting disease; CWD; bovine spongiform encephalopathy; BSE; phenotypical convergence; prion strain; species barrier
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/34870217
• Publisher URL: https://veterinaryresearch.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13567-024-01320-y