P24-Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies, Robert Koch-Institut, Berlin, Germany.
Prion. 2012 Jan-Mar;6(1):17-22. doi: 10.4161/pri.6.1.17776.
Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (prion diseases) in animals may be associated with a zoonotic risk potential for humans as shown by the occurrence of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in the wake of the bovine spongiform encephalopathy epidemic. Thus, the increasing exposure of humans in North America to cervid prions of chronic wasting disease (CWD) in elk and deer has prompted comprehensive risk assessments. The susceptibility of humans to CWD infections is currently under investigation in different studies using macaques as primate models. The necessity for such studies was recently reinforced when disease-associated prion protein and its seeding activity were detected in muscles of clinically inconspicuous CWD-infected white-tailed deer. Increasing evidence points to the existence of different CWD strains, and CWD prions may also change or newly emerge over time. Therefore, CWD isolates examined in macaques should be characterized as precisely as possible for their molecular identity. On this basis other CWD field samples collected in the past, present or future could be systematically compared with macaque-tested inocula in order to assess whether they are covered by the ongoing risk assessments in primates. CWD typing by Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy of pathological prion protein may provide a method of choice for this purpose.
传染性海绵状脑病（朊病毒病）在动物中可能与人类的人畜共患病风险有关，正如牛海绵状脑病流行后变异克雅氏病的发生所表明的那样。因此，北美人接触慢性消耗病（CWD）鹿科动物朊病毒的机会不断增加，促使人们对其进行全面的风险评估。目前，使用猕猴作为灵长类模型的不同研究正在调查人类对 CWD 感染的易感性。当在临床上无明显症状的 CWD 感染白尾鹿的肌肉中检测到与疾病相关的朊病毒蛋白及其传播活性时，最近加强了进行此类研究的必要性。越来越多的证据表明存在不同的 CWD 株，而且 CWD 朊病毒也可能随时间发生变化或新出现。因此，在猕猴中检查的 CWD 分离株应尽可能精确地对其分子特征进行表征。在此基础上，过去、现在或将来在猕猴中检测到的其他 CWD 现场样本可以与接种的猕猴样本进行系统比较，以评估它们是否涵盖了正在进行的灵长类动物风险评估。通过对病理朊病毒蛋白进行傅里叶变换红外光谱分析来对 CWD 进行分型，可能为此提供一种首选方法。
