scholarly journals Evaluation of Winter Ticks (Dermacentor albipictus) Collected from North American Elk (Cervus canadensis) in an Area of Chronic Wasting Disease Endemicity for Evidence of PrP CWD Amplification Using Real-Time Quaking-Induced Conversion Assay

mSphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. J. Haley ◽  
D. M. Henderson ◽  
K. Senior ◽  
M. Miller ◽  
R. Donner
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
North American ◽  
Chronic Wasting Disease ◽  
Wasting Disease ◽  
The Real ◽  
First Finding ◽  
North American Elk ◽  
Dermacentor Albipictus ◽  
Cervus Canadensis

This study reports the first finding of detectable levels of prions linked to chronic wasting disease in a tick collected from a clinically infected elk. Using the real-time quaking-induced conversion assay (RT-QuIC), “suspect” samples were also identified; these suspect ticks were more likely to have been collected from CWD-positive elk, though suspect amplification was also observed in ticks collected from CWD-negative elk.

scholarly journals RT-QuIC amplification of CWD prions in winter ticks (Dermacentor albipictus) collected from North American elk (Cervus canadensis) in a CWD-endemic area

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas J. Haley ◽  
Davin M Henderson ◽  
Kristen Senior ◽  
Matthew Miller ◽  
Rozalyn Donner
Keyword(s):  
Prion Disease ◽  
North American ◽  
Disease Transmission ◽  
Endemic Area ◽  
Viral Infections ◽  
Horizontal Transmission ◽  
Spongiform Encephalopathy ◽  
North American Elk ◽  
Dermacentor Albipictus ◽  
Cervus Canadensis

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a progressive and fatal spongiform encephalopathy of deer and elk species, caused by a misfolded variant of the normal prion protein. Horizontal transmission of the misfolded CWD prion between animals is thought to occur through shedding in saliva and other forms of excreta. The role of blood in CWD transmission is less clear, though infectivity has been demonstrated in various blood fractions. Blood-feeding insects, including ticks, are known vectors for a range of bacterial and viral infections in animals and humans, though to date there has been no evidence for their involvement in prion disease transmission. In the present study, we evaluated winter ticks (Dermacentor albipictus) collected from 136 North American elk (Cervus canadensis) in a CWD-endemic area for evidence of CWD prion amplification using the real time quaking-induced conversion assay (RT-QuIC). Although 30 elk were found to be CWD-positive (22%) postmortem, amplifiable prions were found in just a single tick collected from an elk in advanced stages of CWD infection, with some evidence for prions in ticks collected from elk in mid-stage infection. These findings suggest that further investigation of ticks as reservoirs for prion disease may be warranted.

Detection by real-time quaking-induced conversion (RT-QuIC), ELISA, and IHC of chronic wasting disease prion in lymph nodes from Pennsylvania white-tailed deer with specific PRNP genotypes

2021 ◽  
pp. 104063872110214
Author(s):  
Deepanker Tewari ◽  
David Steward ◽  
Melinda Fasnacht ◽  
Julia Livengood
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Disease Susceptibility ◽  
Chronic Wasting Disease ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
The United States ◽  
Detection Methods ◽  
Spongiform Encephalopathy ◽  
Wasting Disease ◽  
Diagnostic Laboratory ◽  
Highly Sensitive

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a prion-mediated, transmissible disease of cervids, including deer ( Odocoileus spp.), which is characterized by spongiform encephalopathy and death of the prion-infected animals. Official surveillance in the United States using immunohistochemistry (IHC) and ELISA entails the laborious collection of lymphoid and/or brainstem tissue after death. New, highly sensitive prion detection methods, such as real-time quaking-induced conversion (RT-QuIC), have shown promise in detecting abnormal prions from both antemortem and postmortem specimens. We compared RT-QuIC with ELISA and IHC for CWD detection utilizing deer retropharyngeal lymph node (RLN) tissues in a diagnostic laboratory setting. The RLNs were collected postmortem from hunter-harvested animals. RT-QuIC showed 100% sensitivity and specificity for 50 deer RLN (35 positive by both IHC and ELISA, 15 negative) included in our study. All deer were also genotyped for PRNP polymorphism. Most deer were homozygous at codons 95, 96, 116, and 226 (QQ/GG/AA/QQ genotype, with frequency 0.86), which are the codons implicated in disease susceptibility. Heterozygosity was noticed in Pennsylvania deer, albeit at a very low frequency, for codons 95GS (0.06) and 96QH (0.08), but deer with these genotypes were still found to be CWD prion-infected.

scholarly journals Studies in bank voles reveal strain differences between chronic wasting disease prions from Norway and North America

2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (49) ◽  
pp. 31417-31426 ◽  
Author(s):  
Romolo Nonno ◽  
Michele A. Di Bari ◽  
Laura Pirisinu ◽  
Claudia D’Agostino ◽  
Ilaria Vanni ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
North American ◽  
Rangifer Tarandus ◽  
Chronic Wasting Disease ◽  
Strain Differences ◽  
Myodes Glareolus ◽  
Wasting Disease ◽  
Proximate Cause ◽  
Bank Voles ◽  
Regional Deposition

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a relentless epidemic disorder caused by infectious prions that threatens the survival of cervid populations and raises increasing public health concerns in North America. In Europe, CWD was detected for the first time in wild Norwegian reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) and moose (Alces alces) in 2016. In this study, we aimed at comparing the strain properties of CWD prions derived from different cervid species in Norway and North America. Using a classical strain typing approach involving transmission and adaptation to bank voles (Myodes glareolus), we found that prions causing CWD in Norway induced incubation times, neuropathology, regional deposition of misfolded prion protein aggregates in the brain, and size of their protease-resistant core, different from those that characterize North American CWD. These findings show that CWD prion strains affecting Norwegian cervids are distinct from those found in North America, implying that the highly contagious North American CWD prions are not the proximate cause of the newly discovered Norwegian CWD cases. In addition, Norwegian CWD isolates showed an unexpected strain variability, with reindeer and moose being caused by different CWD strains. Our findings shed light on the origin of emergent European CWD, have significant implications for understanding the nature and the ecology of CWD in Europe, and highlight the need to assess the zoonotic potential of the new CWD strains detected in Europe.

scholarly journals Antemortem Detection of Chronic Wasting Disease Prions in Nasal Brush Collections and Rectal Biopsy Specimens from White-Tailed Deer by Real-Time Quaking-Induced Conversion

2016 ◽  
Vol 54 (4) ◽  
pp. 1108-1116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas J. Haley ◽  
Chris Siepker ◽  
W. David Walter ◽  
Bruce V. Thomsen ◽  
Justin J. Greenlee ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Chronic Wasting Disease ◽  
Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy ◽  
Rectal Biopsy ◽  
Spongiform Encephalopathy ◽  
Wasting Disease ◽  
Experimental Conditions ◽  
Biopsy Specimens

Chronic wasting disease (CWD), a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy of cervids, was first documented nearly 50 years ago in Colorado and Wyoming and has since spread to cervids in 23 states, two Canadian provinces, and the Republic of Korea. The expansion of this disease makes the development of sensitive diagnostic assays and antemortem sampling techniques crucial for the mitigation of its spread; this is especially true in cases of relocation/reintroduction of farmed or free-ranging deer and elk or surveillance studies of private or protected herds, where depopulation is contraindicated. This study sought to evaluate the sensitivity of the real-time quaking-induced conversion (RT-QuIC) assay by using recto-anal mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (RAMALT) biopsy specimens and nasal brush samples collected antemortem from farmed white-tailed deer (n= 409). Antemortem findings were then compared to results from ante- and postmortem samples (RAMALT, brainstem, and medial retropharyngeal lymph nodes) evaluated by using the current gold standardin vitroassay, immunohistochemistry (IHC) analysis. We hypothesized that the sensitivity of RT-QuIC would be comparable to IHC analysis in antemortem tissues and would correlate with both the genotype and the stage of clinical disease. Our results showed that RAMALT testing by RT-QuIC assay had the highest sensitivity (69.8%) compared to that of postmortem testing, with a specificity of >93.9%. These data suggest that RT-QuIC, like IHC analysis, is an effective assay for detection of PrPCWDin rectal biopsy specimens and other antemortem samples and, with further research to identify more sensitive tissues, bodily fluids, or experimental conditions, has potential for large-scale and rapid automated testing for CWD diagnosis.

scholarly journals Detection of Chronic Wasting Disease in the Lymph Nodes of Free-Ranging Cervids by Real-Time Quaking-Induced Conversion

2014 ◽  
Vol 52 (9) ◽  
pp. 3237-3243 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas J. Haley ◽  
Scott Carver ◽  
Laura L. Hoon-Hanks ◽  
Davin M. Henderson ◽  
Kristen A. Davenport ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Lymph Nodes ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Chronic Wasting Disease ◽  
Wasting Disease ◽  
Free Ranging

scholarly journals Early detection of chronic wasting disease prions in urine of pre-symptomatic deer by real-time quaking-induced conversion assay

Prion ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 253-258 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theodore R. John ◽  
Hermann M. Schätzl ◽  
Sabine Gilch
Keyword(s):  
Early Detection ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Chronic Wasting Disease ◽  
Wasting Disease

scholarly journals Modified Protein Misfolding Cyclic Amplification Overcomes Real-Time Quaking-Induced Conversion Assay Inhibitors in Deer Saliva To Detect Chronic Wasting Disease Prions

2018 ◽  
Vol 56 (9) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristen A. Davenport ◽  
Clare E. Hoover ◽  
Nathaniel D. Denkers ◽  
Candace K. Mathiason ◽  
Edward A. Hoover
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Protein Misfolding ◽  
Chronic Wasting Disease ◽  
Horizontal Transmission ◽  
Wasting Disease ◽  
Protein Misfolding Cyclic Amplification ◽  
Rapid Spread ◽  
Low Levels ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Impact

ABSTRACT Chronic wasting disease (CWD), a fatal neurodegenerative prion disease of cervids, has spread across North America and has been detected in The Republic of Korea, Finland, and Norway. CWD appears to spread by horizontal transmission, and prions shed in saliva, feces, and urine are thought to contribute. However, studies investigating the rapid spread of CWD have been hampered by assay inhibitors and a lack of consistent and sensitive means to detect the relatively low levels of prions in these samples. Here we show that saliva frequently contains an inhibitor of the real-time quaking-induced conversion assay (RT-QuIC) and that the inhibitor is a member of the mucin family. To circumvent the inhibitor, we developed a modified protein misfolding cyclic amplification (PMCA) method to amplify CWD prions in saliva that were undetectable or ambiguous by RT-QuIC. Our results reinforce the impact of saliva in horizontal CWD transmission and highlight the importance of detection optimization.

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