Abstract
Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a prion disease affecting captive and free-ranging cervids (e.g. deer, elk, and moose). The mechanisms of CWD transmission are poorly understood, though bodily fluids are thought to play an important role. Here we report the presence of infectious prions in the urine and saliva of deer with chronic wasting disease (CWD). Prion infectivity was detected by bioassay of concentrated, dialyzed urine and saliva in transgenic mice expressing the cervid PrP gene (Tg[CerPrP] mice). In addition, PrP(CWD) was detected in pooled and concentrated urine by protein misfolding cyclic amplification (PMCA). The concentration of abnormal prion protein in bodily fluids was very low, as indicated by: undetectable PrP(CWD) levels by traditional assays (western blot, ELISA) and prolonged incubation periods and incomplete TSE attack rates in inoculated Tg(CerPrP) mice (373(+/-)3 days in 2 of 9 urine-inoculated mice and 342(+/-)109 days in 8 of 9 saliva-inoculated mice). These findings help extend our understanding of CWD prion shedding and transmission and portend the detection of infectious prions in body fluids in other prion infections.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
3-18-2009
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0004848
Repository Citation
Haley, Nicholas J.; Seelig, Davis M.; Zabel, Mark D.; Telling, Glenn C.; and Hoover, Edward A., "Detection of CWD Prions in Urine and Saliva of Deer by Transgenic Mouse Bioassay" (2009). Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics Faculty Publications. 21.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/microbio_facpub/21
Notes/Citation Information
Published in PLOS One, v. 4, issue. 3, e4848.
© 2009 Haley et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.