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#Norwegian #moose #CWD induces clinical #disease and #neuroinvasion in gene-targeted mice expressing cervid S138N #prion #protein https://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article?id=10.1371/journal.ppat.1012350
Our study indicates that neuroinvasion of Norwegian moose prions can occur without, or only very limited, replication in the spleen, an unprecedented finding for CWD.
journals.plos.orgNorwegian moose CWD induces clinical disease and neuroinvasion in gene-targeted mice expressing cervid S138N prion proteinAuthor summary Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a prion disease of cervids that is expanding its global footprint. The pathogenesis of prion disease is driven by the accumulation of PrPSc, a misfolded isoform of the cellular prion protein (PrPC). CWD prion strains from North America are lymphotropic, while Norwegian moose and red deer prions are not, and therefore considered non-contagious, sporadic CWD forms. We studied the propagation of Norwegian CWD prions in gene-targeted mice carrying cervid PrPC variants. We reveal that the Norwegian moose isolate induces clinical disease in mice expressing a PrPC variant previously shown to only display subclinical infection upon challenge with North American CWD. We report the first instance of red deer CWD transmission exclusively to mice overexpressing elk PrPC. Notably, our findings suggest a neuroinvasion route for Norwegian moose CWD prions that potentially bypasses spleen replication, underscoring the complexity of prion disease transmission, and the need for continued research into the behavior of prions across different species and protein variants.