Bovine spongiform encephalopathy infection alters endogenous retrovirus expression in distinct brain regions of cynomolgus macaques (Macaca fascicularis).

ABSTRACT:

Background

Prion diseases such as bovine spongiform encephalopathies (BSE) are transmissible neurodegenerative diseases which are presumably caused by an infectious conformational isoform of the cellular prion protein. Previous work has provided evidence that in murine prion disease the endogenous retrovirus (ERV) expression is altered in the brain. To determine if prion-induced changes in ERV expression are a general phenomenon we used a non-human primate model for prion disease.

Results

Cynomolgus macaques (Macaca fasicularis) were infected intracerebrally with BSE-positive brain stem material from cattle and allowed to develop prion disease. Brain tissue from the basis pontis and vermis cerebelli of the six animals and the same regions from four healthy controls were subj

SUBMITTER: Greenwood AD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3152937 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature