Fibrils from brains of cows with new cattle disease contain scrapie-associated protein

During the past two years, more than 1,000 cases of a neurological disorder of cattle, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), have been confirmed from farms throughout Great Britain. The neurological signs and brain pathology of BSE resemble those produced in other species by the pathogens of scrap...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature (London) 1988-11, Vol.336 (6197), p.390-392
Main Authors: Hope, James, Reekie, Laura J. D, Hunter, Nora, Multhaup, Gerd, Beyreuther, Konrad, White, Heather, Scott, Anthony C, Stack, Michael J, Dawson, Michael, Wells, Gerald A. H
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Amino Acid Sequence
Animal viral diseases
Animals
Biological and medical sciences
Biology
Bovine spongiform encephalopathy
Brain - microbiology
Brain Diseases - microbiology
Cattle
Cattle Diseases - microbiology
Disease
Infectious diseases
Medical sciences
Molecular Sequence Data
Nerve Tissue Proteins - analysis
Pathogens
Proteins
PrP 27-30 Protein
Viral diseases
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Summary:During the past two years, more than 1,000 cases of a neurological disorder of cattle, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), have been confirmed from farms throughout Great Britain. The neurological signs and brain pathology of BSE resemble those produced in other species by the pathogens of scrapie and related disorders. The discovery of fibrils similar to scrapie-associated fibrils in detergent extracts o BSE-affected brain supported the clinical and pathological diagnosis of the disease, but has been controversial. Scrapie-associated fibrils are found in brain extracts of all species affected by scrapie and diseases caused by related pathogens. They are pathological aggregates of a neuronal membrane protein termed PrP and a protease-resistant form of PrP is a molecular marker of scrapie-associated fibrils. In this report, we show the major protein of BSE fibrils is the bovine homologue of PrP as judged by its size, protease resistance, immunoreactivity, lectin binding and partial N-terminal protein sequence. This confirms that BSE is a scrapie-like disease.
ISSN:0028-0836
1476-4687
DOI:10.1038/336390a0