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Abnormal Prion Protein in Ectopic Lymphoid Tissue in a Kidney of an Asymptomatic White-tailed Deer Experimentally Inoculated with the Agent of Chronic Wasting Disease

Abstract

Chronic wasting disease (CWD), a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) of deer and elk, is one of a group of fatal, neurologic diseases that affect several mammalian species, including human beings. Infection by the causative agent induces accumulations of an abnormal form of prion protein (PrP^res) in nervous and lymphoid tissues. This report documents the presence of PrP^res within ectopic lymphoid follicles in a kidney of a white-tailed deer that had been experimentally inoculated by the intracerebral route with CWD 10 months previously. The deer was nonclinical, but spongiform lesions characteristic of TSE were detected in tissues of the central nervous system (CNS) and PrP^res was seen in CNS and in lymphoid tissues by immunohistochemistry. The demonstration of PrP^res in lymphoid tissue in the kidney of this deer corroborates a recently published finding of PrP^res in lymphoid follicles of organs other than CNS and lymphoid tissues in laboratory animals with TSE (scrapie).

Key words: Chronic wasting disease (CWD); immunohistochemistry; protease-resistant PrP^res in kidney; spongiform encephalopathy.

Request reprints from A. N. Hamir, DipAH, BVSc, MSc, PhD, DipECVP, MRCVS, National Animal Disease Center, ARS, USDA, 2300 Dayton Avenue, PO Box 70, Ames, IA 50010 (USA). E-mail: ahamir{at}nadc.ars.usda.gov

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