Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Alzheimer's Transmission of AA-amyloidosis: Similarities with Prion Disorders NEUROPRION 2007

FC4.3

Transmission of AA-amyloidosis: Similarities with Prion Disorders

Westermark, P Rudbeck laboratory, Department of Genetics and Pathology, Sweden

The systemic amyloidoses are characterized by widely spread amyloid deposits that can affect virtually every organ in the body. The precursor protein, which varies between different forms is produced at one or several locations, circulates with the plasma and is finally deposited as fibrils in the target organs by mechanisms yet to be determined. In one of the more common forms, systemic AA-amyloidosis, the substrate protein serum AA (SAA) is an acute phase reactant, with significant production only when certain proinflammatory signal substances are upregulated. A persistently high plasma concentration of SAA is a prerequisite for AA-amyloidosis to develop. AA-amyloidosis can easily be induced in many strains of mice by an inflammatory challenge, typically after a long lag phase. This phase is dramatically shortened by administration of amyloid fibrils extracted from an amyloidotic mouse, given intravenously, intra-nasally or given in the drinking water. The fibrillar extract is very potent, active down to pg of protein and facilitates amyloid formation even when given several months before an inflammation is induced. Also amyloid-like fibrils, produced in vitro from synthetic peptides have a clear effect, supporting the idea that the active principle is the misfolded and aggregated protein. AA-amyloidosis occurs in many avian and mammalian species. AA-fibrils from some, but not all species seed murine amyloidosis, showing a species barrier. AA-amyloidosis occurs in species, used as human food and may therefore be a risk factor. Consequently, AA-amyloidosis has similarity with prionoses, differing by the need of an upregulated production of the substrate SAA.

P03.139

Cellular Prion Protein Regulates the ß-Secretase Cleavage of the Alzheimer’s Amyloid Precursor Protein

Hooper, NM1; Parkin, ET1; Watt, NT1; Baybutt, H2; Manson, J2; Hussain, I3; Turner, AJ1 1University of Leeds, Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology, UK; 2Roslin Institute, Neuropathogenesis Unit, UK; 3GlaxoSmithKline, Neurodegeneration Research, UK

Background: The normal cellular function of the prion protein (PrP), the causative agent of the transmissible spongiform encephalopathies such as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) in humans, remains enigmatic. Several studies have reported combinations of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and CJD neuropathology and the Val/Met129 polymorphism in the PrP gene has been identified as a risk factor for early-onset AD, leading to speculation that there may be some pathogenic connection between these two neurodegenerative conditions. The amyloid ß (Aß) peptides that cause AD are derived from the amyloid precursor protein (APP) through sequential proteolytic cleavage by the ß-secretase (BACE1) and the g-secretase complex. Aim: As both APP and PrP are cleaved by zinc metalloproteases of the ADAM family, we investigated whether PrP alters the proteolytic processing of APP. Results: Here we show that expression of PrP in SH-SY5Y cells dramatically downregulated the cleavage of APP by BACE1 and reduced the secretion of Aß peptides into the conditioned medium by >92%. Conversely, siRNA reduction of endogenous PrP in N2a cells led to an increase in secreted Aß. Furthermore, levels of Aß were significantly increased in the brains of PrP null mice as compared with wild type mice. Two mutants of PrP, PG14 and A116V, that are associated with familial human prion diseases, did not inhibit the BACE1 cleavage of APP. To investigate whether the Val/Met129 polymorphism in human PrPC would alter the production of Aß, brains from mice with the human PrP gene with MM or VV 129 genotypes were analysed. In the MM mice there was a significant increase in Aß in the brains as compared with the VV mice. In the brains of two strains (79A and 87V) of scrapie-infected mice there was a significant increase in Aß peptides as compared to uninfected mice. Conclusions: Together these data reveal a novel function for PrP in regulating the processing of APP through inhibition of BACE1. The increase in APP processing in cells expressing disease-associated forms of PrP and in scrapie-infected brains raises the possibility that the increase in Aß may contribute to the neurodegeneration observed in prion diseases. Funded by the Medical Research Council of Great Britain.

P03.140

Prion Protein Regulates the ß-Secretase Cleavage of the Alzheimer’s Amyloid Precursor Protein through Interaction with Glycosaminoglycans

Griffiths, HH; Parkin, ET; Watt, NT; Turner, AJ; Hooper, NM University of Leeds, Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology, UK

Background: Proteolytic processing of the amyloid precursor protein (APP) by ßsecretase, BACE1, is the initial step in the production of the amyloid ß (Aß) peptide which is involved in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease. We have shown that the cellular prion protein (PrP) inhibits the cleavage of APP by BACE1 in cell and animal models. Aim: To investigate the mechanism by which PrP inhibits the action of BACE1. Results: Neither PrPdeltaGPI, which is not membrane attached, nor PrP-CTM, which is anchored by a transmembrane domain and is excluded from cholesterol-rich lipid rafts, reduced cleavage of APP, suggesting that to inhibit the BACE1 cleavage of APP PrP has to be localised to lipid rafts. Coimmunoprecipitation experiments demonstrated that PrP physically interacts with BACE1. However, PrP did not alter the activity of BACE1 towards a fluorogenic peptide substrate nor perturb the dimerisation of BACE1. Using constructs of PrP lacking either the octapeptide repeats or the 4 residues KKRP at the N-terminus of the mature protein (PrPdeltaN), we demonstrate that the KKRP sequence but not the octapeptide repeats, is essential for regulating the BACE1 cleavage of APP. As the KKRP sequence is known to participate in glycosaminoglycan (GAG) binding, we confirmed that PrPdeltaN did not bind to immobilised heparin. Addition of heparin to SH-SY5Y cells increased the amount of APP cleaved by BACE1 in a concentration-dependent manner and reduced the amount of BACE1 coimmunoprecipitated with PrP, suggesting that GAGs are required for PrP to interact with BACE1 and inhibit APP processing. Of a range of GAGs, including dextran sulphate, hyaluronic acid and chondroitin sulphate, investigated there was complete correlation between those that could restore BACE1 cleavage of APP in PrP expressing cells and those that bound PrP. Conclusion: These data suggest a possible mechanism by which PrP regulates the ßcleavage of APP is through the N-terminus of PrP interacting via GAGs with one or more of the heparin binding sites on BACE1 within a subset of cholesterol-rich lipid rafts, thereby restricting access of BACE1 to APP. Funded by the Medical Research Council of Great Britain.

P04.37

Comparison of the Neuropsychological Profile of Patients with Sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease and Patients with Alzheimer’s

Krzovska, M1; Cepek, L1; Ratzka, P2; Döhlinger, S3; Uttner, I1; Wolf, Stefanie4; Irle, Eva4; Mollenhauer, Brit5; Kretzschmar, Hans A.6; Riepe, Matthias7; v. Arnim, Christine1; Otto, Markus1 1University of Ulm, Germany; 2Department of Neurology, Germany; 3University of Goettingen, Germany; 4University of Goettingen, Germany; 5Elena Klinik, Germany; 6LMU, Germany; 7University of Berlin, Germany

Background:To evaluate the neuropsychological profile of sCJD we administered the cognitive subscale of the Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment Scale (ADAS-cog) in order to determine if and how the sCJD-Subgroups (Met/Met, Met/Val, Val/Val) have different results in the item analysis of the ADAS-cog. Furthermore, we studied how the scores differ from that of patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Methods:33 sCJD patients (11 with definite CJD and 22 with probable CJD) underwent neuropsychological testing with the ADAS-cog and Mini Mental State Exam (MMSE). Of these 31 were genotyped at the Codon 129 (11 Val/Val, 18 Met/Val and 2 Met/Met). The patients were matched in regards to sex and total ADAS-cog score with AD patients. The scores of the 11 ADAS-cog items were compared between the sCJD and the AD groups as well as between the sCJD-subgroups Met/Val and Val/Val and the AD group. Results:The ADAS-cog total score of the sCJD and AD groups was 22.6+/- 6.5, respectively. Regarding the single Item scores of the sCJD patient group and the AD patient group, there were statistically significant differences in the Items Constructional praxis, Word-finding difficulty in spontaneous speech and Spoken language ability. When comparing the sCJD subtypes with each other no statistically significant difference was found in the items. Conclusion: In the speech domain and constructional praxis there is indication of greater impairment in sCJD patients in general when compared with AD patients. A disturbance of the speech appears to be an important characteristic of the Met/Val and Val/Val subtypes of sCJD, and should therefore be the focus of special attention in future neuropsychological studies.

http://www.neuroprion.com/pdf_docs/conferences/prion2007/abstract_book.pdf


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Alzheimer's and CJD

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Saturday, March 22, 2008

10 Million Baby Boomers to have Alzheimer's in the coming decades 2008 Alzheimer's disease facts and figures

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re-Association between Deposition of Beta-Amyloid and Pathological Prion Protein in Sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease

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Terry S. Singeltary Sr. P.O. Box 42 Baycliff, Texas USA 77518

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Are cheetahs on the run from prion-like amyloidosis?

Are cheetahs on the run from prion-like amyloidosis?

Byron Caughey* and Gerald S. Baron* Laboratory of Persistent Viral Diseases, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Hamilton, MT 598940

The misfolding and aggregation of proteins is often an accident waiting to happen. Consequently, organisms have developed sophisticated chaperone and quality-control systems to limit abnormal protein interactions and the accumulation of toxic aggregates (1). However, sometimes these systems can be overwhelmed, and diseases, namely protein misfolding diseases, can result. One such disease, amyloid protein A (AA) amyloidosis, is wreaking havoc in the captive cheetah population, complicating efforts to rescue this endangered species from extinction (2, 3). One key to managing this fatal disease in cheetahs is to understand why it is so prevalent. Most cases of AA amyloidosis in mammals appear to occur spontaneously, usually as a result of chronic inflammation or genetic peculiarities that predispose the organism to the deposition of serum amyloid A (SAA) protein in fibrillar deposits called amyloid (Fig. 1). In this issue of PNAS, Zhang et al. (4) report that AA amyloid is excreted in the feces of cheetahs with AA amyloidosis and that this fecal amyloid can in turn promote a similar disease in mice. These results suggest that cheetah AA amyloidosis may not be simply a spontaneous disease, but also a natural prion-like, transmissible protein misfolding disease. Prions are protein-based infectious agents or elements of inheritance that, unlike conventional pathogens, lack agent-specific nucleic acid genomes (5, 6). Prions have been described in both mammals (e.g., bovine spongiform encephalopathy and Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease) and fungi ([URE3], [PSI], and [Het-s]). Replication of prions requires a self-propagating modification of an otherwise non-prion host protein. Usually the mechanism involves the recruitment of the normal form of the protein into a growing amyloid-like prion aggregate. In many cases the presence of prions is a disease state, but some prions play normal physiological roles (7). Although amyloid-like protein aggregation is typical of many important protein misfolding diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease and type 2 diabetes, most of these diseases are not known to be naturally transmissible or heritable because of transfer of the amyloid. However, experimental inoculations of amyloid preparations can enhance amyloidosis in nai¨ve mice that are strongly primed for the development of amyloidosis (8, 9). This suggests that there is potential for amyloidoses, in general, and AA amyloidosis specifically, to be transmissible and, hence, prion-like. For such transmissions to be significant in the real world, there must be practical routes of transmission and the potential for inducing disease in natural, rather than artificially primed, hosts. The shedding of AA amyloid into the feces of cheetahs suggests a potential route of transmission (Fig. 1) (4). Although the fecal amyloid can promote amyloidosis on i.v. inoculation into mice, this is only true in mice that were primed for amyloidosis by injections of an inflammatory chemical (silver nitrate) that dramatically boosts serum SAA levels. The silver nitrate treatment alone causes spontaneous amyloidosis in these mice, albeit at a slower pace than when the mice are inoculated with exogenous amyloid. Thus, it remains to be determined whether fecal amyloid can actually initiate, rather than enhance, amyloidosis in either mice or cheetahs and, if so, by what route of inoculation. One possible mode of entry would be oral because AA amyloid can be active in primed mice when administered orally as well as intravenously (9, 10). Another potential route would be direct inoculation of fecal amyloid into the blood stream through cuts or abrasions. It should be noted that Zhang et al. (4) inoculated mice with highly concentrated preparations of fecal amyloid. Hence, it is unknown whether amyloid concentrations in feces would allow transmission to nai¨ve recipients by any peripheral route. If fecal amyloid can be transmitted to other captive cheetahs, what makes these animals so susceptible to AA amyloidosis? The fact that mice can be primed for AA amyloidosis by inflamm tory stimuli raises the possibility that inflammation is also important in cheetahs. Indeed, inflammatory diseases are prominent in captive cheetahs with AA amyloidosis, and a number of precipitating factors, including chronic infections, diet, and stress, have been identified (2, 3). Other possibilities include genetic predispositions of cheetahs to AA amyloidosis because of their SAA sequence or expression level. Interestingly, a gene polymorphism has been identified in captive cheetahs that flanks the SAA1 gene and strongly affects its transcriptional induction in response to inflammation (11). Expression of other proteins can also profoundly enhance susceptibility of animals to AA amyloidosis, as shown by modulation of pentraxin levels in hamsters (12). The genetic homogeneity of captive cheetahs may enhance these susceptibility problems (11, 13), but does not appear to be the sole issue (3). The very factors that might make cheetahs susceptible to exogenous AA amyloid ‘‘infections’’ should also potentiate spontaneous AA amyloidosis in these animals. There is precedent for this in the spontaneous amyloidosis that occurs in silver nitrate-primed mice. By analogy, it remains possible that the high incidence of AA amyloidosis in cheetahs is caused by spontaneous disease exacerbated by the inflammatory stimuli, stresses, and inbreeding of captivity rather than exposure to fecal amyloid. Further studies will be required to resolve these questions. AA amyloidosis susceptibility issues may have serious implications for cheetah conservation efforts. If the objective is to rescue the wild cheetah population by releasing cheetahs bred in captivity, then it will be important to know the impact of releasing amyloidotic animals into the wild. Will AA amyloidosis continue to progress and affect the survival of released cheetahs? Can the disease be spread to wild cheetahs? One encouraging observation is that, relative to captive cheetahs, wild Namibian cheetahs are remarkably free of disease, including inflammatory diseases such as AA amyloidosis and gastritis (3). Perhaps lower chronic levels of inflammation, and hence serum SAA levels, make them less susceptible than captive cheetahs to AA amyloid shed by other animals. Although major questions remain about the etiology of AA amyloidosis in captive cheetahs, it may be wise to take measures to limit exposure of cheetahs to potential sources of amyloid ‘‘infectivity.’’ The demonstration that cheetah AA amyloid is active in mice indicates that there is cross-species promiscuity in its amyloid-inducing capacity. This promiscuity might also work in reverse, rendering cheetahs susceptible to AAamyloid- laden tissues of other species that might be fed to them. Interestingly, foie gras was recently shown to contain AA amyloid that could accelerate amyloidosis when fed to mice (9). Thus, consideration of a variety of potential sources of exposure for cheetahs seems warranted. Furthermore, if chronic inflammation enhances disease susceptibility, then anti-inflammatory therapies may be helpful. Is AA amyloidosis in cheetahs a prion disease? The answer depends on whether AA amyloidosis in captive cheetahs is caused by spontaneous disease or transmission of amyloid between animals. Environmental influences on AA amyloidosis epidemiology could be due to the presence of either ‘‘infectious’’ amyloid, a prion-like etiology, or to factors that enhance the incidence of spontaneous disease, i.e., a non-prion etiology. Even if transfer of AA amyloid between cheetahs enhances AA amyloidosis, the question would remain as to whether the transferred amyloid initiates the disease de novo or merely accelerates ongoing disease. The latter scenario would place AA amyloidosis into a gray area with respect to the basic prion concept. In this instance, prion transmission would affect the kinetics of the disease without actually initiating it. Regardless of prion semantics, there could be practical consequences of such kinetic phenomena in both animals and humans. For instance, recent studies have shown that in ection of -amyloid can enhance Alzheimer’s-like amyloidosis in transgenic mice (14). This raises the possibility that inadvertent transfer of -amyloid from one person to another could accelerate the neurodegenerative process to the point where it becomes Alzheimer’s disease as opposed to normal aging. In this example, as well as in cheetah AA amyloidosis and many other protein misfolding diseases, the basic problem is likely the outpacing of an organism’s protein quality control mechanisms. This may sometimes be more a problem of the rate, rather than of the instigation, of protein misfolding.

Fig. 1. Diagram of AA amyloid formation and the potential prion-like transmission of AA amyloidosis by fecal shedding and oral uptake of the amyloid. The photo shows an example of Congo red-stained AA amyloid fibril deposits in hamster liver tissue (courtesy of John Coe, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases).

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. This work was supported by the intramural program of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health. 1. Balch WE. Morimoto RI, Dillin A, KellyJW(2008) Adapting proteostasis for disease intervention. Science 319:916–919. 2. Papendick RE, Munson L, O’Brien TD, Johnson KH (1997) Systemic AA amyloidosis in captive cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus). Vet Pathol 34:549–556. 3. MunsonL, et al. (2005) Extrinsic factors significantly affect patterns of disease in free-ranging and captive cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) populations. J Wildl Dis 41:542–548. 4. Zhang B, et al. (2008) Fecal transmission of AA amyloidosis in the cheetah contributes to high incidence of disease. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 105:7263–7268. 5. Prusiner SB (1998) Prions. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 95:13363–13383. 6. Wickner RB, et al. (2004) Prion genetics: New rules for a new kind of gene. Annu Rev Genet 38:681–707. 7. Coustou V, Deleu C, Saupe S, Begueret J (1997) The protein product of the het-s heterokaryon incompatibility gene of the fungus Podospora anserina behaves as a prion analog. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 94:9773–9778. 8. Kisilevsky R, Boudreau L (1983) Kinetics of amyloid deposition. I. The effects of amyloid-enhancing factor and splenectomy. Lab Invest 48:53–59. 9. Solomon A, et al. (2007) Amyloidogenic potential of foie gras. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 104:10998–11001. 10. Lundmark K, et al. (2002) Transmissibility of systemic amyloidosis by a prion-like mechanism. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 99:6979–6984. 11. Zhang B, et al. (March 28, 2008) Characterization of the cheetah serum amyloid A1 gene: Critical role and functional polymorphism of a cis-acting element. J Hered, 10.1093/jhered/esn015. 12. Coe JE, Ross MJ (1990) Amyloidosis and female protein in the Syrian hamster: Concurrent regulation by sex hormones. J Exp Med 171:1257–1267. 13. O’Brien SJ, et al. (1985) Genetic basis for species vulnerability in the cheetah. Science 227:1428 – 1434. 14. Meyer-Luehmann M, et al. (2006) Exogenous induction of cerebral beta-amyloidogenesis is governed by agent and host. Science 313:1781–1784. 7114  www.pnas.orgcgidoi10.1073pnas.0803438105 Caughey and Baron

http://www.pnas.org/cgi/reprint/0803438105v1?etoc


Monday, May 12, 2008

Fecal transmission of AA amyloidosis in the cheetah contributes to high incidence of disease

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Alzheimer's and CJD

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Saturday, March 22, 2008

10 Million Baby Boomers to have Alzheimer's in the coming decades 2008 Alzheimer’s disease facts and figures

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Original Paper

Association between Deposition of Beta-Amyloid and Pathological Prion Protein in Sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease

Laura Debatina, Johannes Strefferb, Markus Geissenc, Jakob Matschkec, Adriano Aguzzia, Markus Glatzela, c

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Sunday, April 27, 2008 re-Association between Deposition of Beta-Amyloid and Pathological Prion Protein in Sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Greetings,

I thought this most important research by Aguzzi et al 'Association between Deposition of Beta-Amyloid and Pathological Prion Protein in Sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease' most important, and thought further reading of this study should be at hand.

http://betaamyloidcjd.blogspot.com/2008/04/re-association-between-deposition-of.html


Draft Factual Account #5

10. On 28 June 1986 Mr Jeffrey examined tissue sections taken from the brain of a nyala which had been kept at Marwell Zoo.(S Jeffrey para 6; YB86/7.8/1.1 ) This examination, and subsequent consideration of the report, are described in the CVL DFA.

51. On 10 June 1987 Mr Bradley sent a BSE update to Dr Watson. It discussed, amongst other things, the nyala case and subsequent paper, the work of Mr Wilesmith, the upcoming BCVA meeting and the work of Dr Kimberlin.(YB 87/6.10/1.1 )

63. On 22 June 1987 Mr Bradley sent a memo to Mr Wells detailing actions taken to date. It noted that publication has been discussed with the CVO and halted and that there were now at least 9 suspect herds and a case in a gemsbok at Marwell.(YB 87/6.22/2.1 )

74. On 1 July 1987, Mr Bradley wrote to Mr Jeffrey to tell him that his article on spongiform encephalopathy in a nyala was not authorised for publication, and that while he made comparisons with scrapie, the CVO was unlikely to give his approval.(YB87/6.29/3.1; YB87/7.1/2.1; YB87/7.1/3.1-3.10 ) This is further discussed in the CVL DFA.

153. On 11 December 1987, Mr Jeffrey's paper on the nyala was submitted for publication in the journal Veterinary Pathology. The paper had first been drafted the paper in autumn 1986. (S 64 Jeffrey para 10) The title of the paper was changed from 'A scrapie-like disorder in a nyala' to 'A spongiform encephalopathy in a nyala.' Other references to scrapie were also amended.( S Jeffrey para 10; S 65 Wells para 55; YB87/11.11/2.1; YB87/11.17/3.1; YB87/11.23/2.1. )

Spongiform encephalopathy in a nyala (Tragelaphus angasi).

Vet Pathol 1988 Sep;25(5):398-9 Jeffrey M, Wells GA Lasswade Veterinary Laboratory, Midlothian.

166. In January 1988, Mr Wilesmith was informed of the June 1987 case of SE in the gemsbok. He discovered from the Winchester VIC that both the >nyala and the gemsbok had received rations containing MBM and this provided further support for his hypothesis.( S Wilesmith para. 37)

Draft Factual Account #4

28. On 28 June 1986 Dr Jeffrey examined tissue sections taken from the brain of a nyala which had been kept at Marwell Zoo. (S Jeffrey para 6; YB86/7.8/1.1 ) The nyala had shown unusual nervous symptoms two weeks prior to being put down on welfare grounds. These symptoms included 'weaving with the head and neck, holding the head on its side and frequent nibbling near the tailbone.'(YB86/6.23/1.1 ) The sections were originally necropsied by Mr Geoff Holmes at the Winchester VIC.(YB86/5.29/1.1; YB86/6.18/1.1 ) The nyala (tragelaphus angasi) is not an antelope but belongs to the same family (species group) as cattle.

29. Dr Jeffrey observed that the brain showed taxonomic lesions of spongiform encephalopathy and that the similarity of the lesions to natural sheep scrapie was striking, and indeed he thought that in comparison to natural sheep scrapie the lesions were particularly florid.(YB86/7.2/1.1; S Jeffrey para 9 ) The sites (neuroanatomical location) and cellular location (grey matter neuropil and neuronal cytoplasmic vacuolation) were distinctive and characteristic of the TSEs. Dr Jeffrey sent a slide of the nyala brain to Dr Richard Kimberlin at the NPU in the latter quarter of 1986 who 'vividly recollect[ed] seeing the results down the microscope because the pathology was so striking'.(YB 98/11.18/1.1 )

30. Following a field visit to Marwell Zoo on 21 July 1986,(YB86/7.24/1.1 ) a report was compiled by Mr Holmes at Winchester VIC and a scientific paper prepared for publication in a journal.(S Jeffrey para 10 ) Dr Jeffrey conferred with Mr Wells, his line manager at the CVL, in the preparation of the paper.(S Jeffrey para 9; S Wells 1st para 55 ) Dr Jeffrey was not sure of the exact date he submitted the paper to the Animal Health and Veterinary Group (AHVG) for publication but said it was some time in Autumn 1986.(S Jeffrey para 10; YB86/11.00/1.1 ) Dr Jeffrey did not form any conclusions about the origins of the disease in this animal, but he discussed the case with the CVL Epidemiology Department, and they agreed to keep a 'watching brief' on the situation.(S Wilesmith para 11)

89. On 17 June 1987 the Annual Report of the CVO for 1986 was published, having been submitted for publication on 1 June 1987.( M24 Tab 2 at 69 ) The Report described the discovery of a 'Scrapie-like disease in a captive nyala' and noted that 'Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies have been reported in man, sheep and goats (scrapie), mule deer and mink.'

91. On 19 June 1987 Mr Bradley sent Dr Watson a BSE Update. Amongst other things it was noted:(YB 87/6.19/3.1-3.2 )

"The final draft Vet Rec paper has been prepared and submitted for authority to publish. This has been rejected by CVO whilst scrapie is mentioned. For this and other reasons the paper is temporarily withdrawn until further information is available"

92. On 19 June 1987 Dr S.H. Done diagnosed spongiform encephalopathy in a gemsbok from Marwell Park.(YB87/6.19/3.2; YB876.8/3.1; YB87/6.10/3.1; YB87/6.25/1.1 ) This was the zoo was from which the SE-infected nyala had come. While the nyala was from the same species group as cattle, the gemsbok is an African antelope.

100. On 1 July 1987 Mr Bradley wrote to Dr Jeffrey to tell him that his article on spongiform encephalopathy in a nyala was not authorised for publication, and that while he made comparisons with scrapie, the CVO was unlikely to give his approval.(YB87/7.1/3.2; YB87/6.29/3.1; YB87/7.1/2.1 ) The initial title of the paper was 'Scrapie-like disorder in a nyala'.( S Jeffrey para 12 ) At the request of Tolworth, the title of the paper was eventually changed to 'Spongiform encephalopathy in a nyala'.( YB87/11.00/1.1 ) Because of the original references to the scrapie-like nature of the disorder the paper was delayed for publication and was not published until September 1988.( J/VP/25/398 ) Dr Jeffrey told the BSE Inquiry that he resisted the move to alter his paper because it 'would have been negligent to try and publish that without a reference to scrapie'.(T25 at 32 )

157. On 17 November 1987 Mr Bradley minuted Dr Jeffrey noting that the title to his nyala paper was likely to be unacceptable to "senior management" for "veterinary political reasons". He also recommended that where comparisons were made with scrapie the emphasis ought to be altered.(YB 87/11.17/1.1 )

433. On 23 October 1989 Dr Watson told Mr Wells that the CVL were to supply material from the kudu and nyala to the NPU for transmission to mice. Dr Watson said this was an important transmission experiment designed to establish the relationship between the disease in zoo animals and cattle.(S Watson 1st para 134 ) Mr Bradley provided Dr Watson with a list of tissues that were to be sent to the NPU on 24 November 1989.(YB89/10.24/4.1 )

================================================

BSE Inquiry site Draft Factual Account 13 extracts related to zoo animals:

19. On 24 January 1990 Mr Bradley sent to Dr Watson a summary of the main points of a meeting held with the Minister the same day.(20) The minute noted: "The Minister played Devil's advocate in relation to: ... 5. MBM exports unethical. All should be labelled & a letter should be sent to all countries to which MBM was exported should be sent." [No such letter was sent.]

28. By 12 February 1990 the nyala and kudu tissues and the placenta had been inoculated into mice at the NPU.(33) After his investigations into the alimentary tract, ... Mr Bradley said in a minute dated 12 February 1990 that:(36) "It is very clear that it is important to initiate studies now in a much wider range of tissues and in multiple specimens than can be accommodated in the annual quota of 30 for the next two years." Mr Bradley attached a table showing the progress of infectivity studies:..fixed nyala brain, fixed kudu brain, buffy coat.

57. On 17 September 1990 Mr Bradley circulated a minute with regards to an offer by Dr Schellekers of the Netherlands to collaborate on attempting to transmit BSE to chimpanzees.(YB90/9.17/1.1) Mr Wells and Dr Rosalind Ridley, who was conducting the marmoset experiment, told Mr Bradley that they did not feel there was any greater justification for an attempted transmission in chimpanzees than marmosets.(S Bradley 3rd para 40 ) Mr Bradley passed on this view to the CVO.(YB90/9.23/1.1; YB90/9.26/3.1 ). [This is ignorant beyond belief.]

67. In Spring 1991 Mr McGill performed a review of 200 brains that had, using the obex histopathological method, been deemed BSE-negative.(110) This diagnostic approach, that had been developed for use within the VIS, used a single section from the medulla to look for spongiform change. In his review Mr McGill examined other parts of the brain.(111) In his statement to the BSE Inquiry Mr McGill said:

Upon closer examination, three of the 200 'BSE-negative' brains proved positive for spongiform changes diagnostic of BSE.(112) This represents an overall diagnostic accuracy of 99.85%, exceeding the 99.6% previously published for the same standard diagnostic technique. Despite this, at the behest of MAFF managers, the emphasis of the study and its provisional title had to be changed, from accurately representing the whole negative 10%, to a study examining this 10% minus any mention whatsoever of BSE-affected cattle going undiagnosed. I therefore had to reluctantly locate and analyse three new BSE-negative suspect brains.(113)

76. In mid-1991 it was decided that a proposed survey of 300 deer brains would proceed.(124) As with the hound survey, there were difficulties in collecting the material in a manner optimal for histopathological examinations.(See YB92/11.4/2.1) During the period 1986 to 1996, 26 deer brains were referred for examination to the Consultant Pathology Unit at the CVL, but none of these showed evidence of an SE.

103. On 16 July 1992 a meeting was held at CVL to discuss the research proposals relating to the studies on SEs in a greater kudu at a zoo. (S Bradley 3rd para 65 ) Three main experiments were proposed: to determine the distribution of agent in tissues; to study the epidemiology; and to strain type isolates from a brain of a new case of spongiform encephalopathy. Formal proposals were later drawn up and Mr Bradley became the Project Officer for the experiments.

108. Mr Bradley and Mr Dawson met staff at London Zoo on 23 March 1993 to discuss tissue selection for the proposed transmission studies on BSE-infected kudu material.(166) The Zoo did not want to keep the kudu, but moving them to the CVL was ruled out because of inadequate facilities to care for them. The investigations into the distribution of the SE agent in various tissues began in June 1993.

121. On 9 October 1993 Mr Wilesmith and others published a paper on the additional cases of TSE in the herd of greater kudu at London Zoo.(S Wilesmith 2nd para 95 ) On the basis of feeding histories, the authors concluded that horizontal transmission had occurred. However, subsequent investigations based at the zoo revealed that the affected animals were most likely to have been infected from the feedborne source.

143. On 3 July 1994 Mr Bradley was informed that two more kudu were to be culled.( Bradley 3rd para 86 ) He visited the London Zoo on 21 July 1994 to review the progress of the studies on TSEs in zoo animals. Necropsies were to be carried out on the kudu and tissues collected for further transmission studies. At this stage the mice that had been inoculated with kudu tissues in August and September 1993 had not succumbed to spongiform encephalopathy. The Zoo authorities wanted to move the kudu because of the possibility of bad publicity.(YB95/2.10/1.6) This was discussed at a SEAC meeting on 2 February 1995. The meeting agreed that the risk to Zoo visitors was minuscule or non-existent. Mr Bradley's case control study indicated that infected feed was the most probable cause of the BAB kudu SE cases.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

46. On 28 June 1990 Mr Bradley informed Mr Wells that a survey of hounds was to commence.(68) The hound survey arose because the Tyrrell Committee had recognised that domestic pets might prove susceptible to the unconventional agent of BSE and recommended monitoring the health of animals fed offal, carcases or meat and bone meal.(M11a Tab 8 )

47. A total of 444 hound brains of mixed breeds from 101 kennels across the United Kingdom were collected and examined. Histopathological changes consistent with a florid spongiform encephalopathy similar to that reported in cats was not observed. However, the report of the survey identified serious flaws in the survey's design. Mr Wells said in a minute to Mr Bradley in October 1991 that 'the survey as designed has little to offer scientifically'.(YB91/10.17/1.1)

54. On 20 August 1990 Mr Wells confirmed the parenteral transmission of BSE to a pig.(YB90/7.20/2.1) The pig was inoculated in February/March of 1989 and was slaughtered in July 1990.(S Wells 2nd para 40) An interim report was prepared for SEAC(84) and a press conference was held on 24 September 1990 to announce the parenteral transmission of BSE to pigs.(85) The transmission of BSE to pigs was a major factor in the ban on SBOs being extended to all animal feed. Experiments were also conducted by orally dosing pigs with BSE infected material but when the pigs were killed after seven years they were not found to be incubating the disease.(S Wells 2nd para 40 )

55. By August 1990 a total of 10 cases of FSE in domestic cats had been confirmed.(S Wilesmith 2nd para 109 ) Mr Wilesmith designed a questionnaire to be completed by the veterinarians who clinically identified FSE for the purposes of an epidemiological investigation. In addition to this investigation, the University of Bristol was subsequently granted a MAFF contract for a study in collaboration with the NPU to ascertain whether the condition in cats was transmissible to mice and, if so, to undertake strain typing of the agent.(S Wells 2nd para 104; YB 92/6.19/5.1 ) Mr Wells was appointed Project Officer to monitor the study. When the study was completed it showed that the disease in cats was transmissible and that similarities in the biological characteristics of FSE and BSE on transmission to mice indicated that the two diseases probably arose from a common source.(J/VR/134/449 )

64. In February 1991 Mr Mark Robinson began studies on the transmission of BSE to mink.(S Wilesmith 2nd paras 117-118 ) This study was done in collaboration with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), and the Department of Veterinary Science at the University of Wisconsin, USA. The results of this study were discussed at the 10th CVL/NPU BSE R&D meeting held on 27 April 1993.(YB93/4.27/1.1) The results indicated that mink were susceptible to BSE, and in contrast to previous attempts to transmit scrapie to the species, were susceptible by the oral route of challenge.(J/JVIR /75/2151)

99. On 11 April 1992 Mr Bradley prepared a paper for the Lamming Expert Committee on Animal Feedingstuffs.(153) Some of the areas covered in the paper were tallow, the danger of BSE to pigs, the effect of the species barrier, tissue infectivity of lambs and calves, scrapie incidence and the danger of dogs developing SEs.

116. In July 1993 studies involving the oral exposure of pigs to scrapie were started the CVL.(179) Such studies were recommended by the expert committee on feedingstuffs chaired by Professor Lamming, because it was found that pigs had been orally exposed not only to BSE but also to scrapie. The pigs were orally exposed to scrapie-infected brain material in November 1993 and while the experiment remains in progress, no pigs have been shown to have developed the disease to date.

123. In December 1993 Dr Ken Charlton of the Animal Disease Research Institute, Nepean, Ontario, Canada, visited the CVL bringing material from a suspect case of BSE in Canada. The CVL confirmed that the case was a BSE case and reported it to the Canadian authorities.(189) in 1994.

152. On 13-16 February 1995 ... ...BSE to pigs - Further work to clarify the finding of non-specific vacuolation in the brains of control pigs was needed.

...BSE to chickens - Sub-passage in chickens and mice of various tissues from experimentally infected birds was needed to clarify the findings of neurological signs without neuropathology in inoculated birds.

==-=-=-=-

bibliography:

Vet Rec 1997 Sep 13;141(11):270-1 Baron-T, Belli-P Madec-J-Y Moutou-F Vitaud-C Savey-M Spongiform encephalopathy in an imported cheetah in France. CNEVA-Lyon, Laboratoire de Pathologie Bovine, France.

Proc Soc Exp Biol Med 1996 Apr;211(4):306-22 Narang H Origin and implications of bovine spongiform encephalopathy. [tiger]

Vet Rec. 1994 Nov 12;135(20):488. Benbow G. Spongiform encephalopathies in zoo animals. comment

Vet Rec 1994 Oct 29;135(18):440 Swainston J. comment

Vet Rec 1994 Sep 24;135(13):296-303 Kirkwood JK, Cunningham AA Epidemiological observations on spongiform encephalopathies

Vet Rec 1994 Feb 12;134(7):167-8 Kirkwood JK, Cunningham AA, Austin AR, Wells GA, Sainsbury AW Spongiform encephalopathy in a greater kudu

Vet Rec. 1993 Oct 9;133(15):360-4. Kirkwood JK, et al. Spongiform encephalopathy in a herd of greater kudu

Vet Rec. 1993 Jan 16;132(3):68. Cunningham AA, et al. Transmissible spongiform encephalopathy in greater kudu

Vet Rec. 1992 Nov 7;131(19):431-4. Willoughby K, et al. Spongiform encephalopathy in a captive puma

Aust Vet J 1992 Jul;69(7):171 Peet RL, Curran JM Spongiform encephalopathy in an imported cheetah

Vet Rec 1992 Apr 25;130(17):365-7 Kirkwood JK, Wells GA, Cunningham AA, Jackson SI, Scott AC, Dawson M, Wilesmith JW Scrapie-like encephalopathy in a greater kudu

Acta Neuropathol (Berl) 1992;84(5):559-69 Jeffrey M, Scott JR, Williams A, Fraser H Ultrastructural features of spongiform encephalopathy

Vet Rec. 1991 Oct 5;129(14):320 Synge BA, et al. Spongiform encephalopathy in a Scottish cat.

Vet Rec 1991 Sep 14;129(11):233-6 Wyatt JM, Pearson GR, Naturally occurring scrapie-like s

Vet Rec. 1991 Jun 1;128(22):532. Pearson GR, et al. Feline spongiform encephalopathy.

Vet Rec. 1991 Mar 30;128(13):311. Kock R. Spongiform encephalopathies in ungulates.

Vet Rec. 1991 Feb 2;128(5):115. Gibson PH. Spongiform encephalopathies in ungulates. comment

Vet Rec 1990 Dec 15;127(24):586-8 Leggett MM, Dukes J, Pirie HM A spongiform encephalopathy in a cat.

Done JT. Vet Rec. 1990 Nov 10;127(19):484. Spongiform encephalopathy in pigs.

Vet Rec. 1990 Oct 27;127(17):418-20. Kirkwood JK, et al. Spongiform encephalopathy in an arabian oryx (Oryx leucoryx) and a greater kudu.

Vet Rec. 1990 Sep 29;127(13):338. Dawson M, et al. Primary parenteral transmission of bovine spongiform encephalopathy to the pig.

Vet Rec. 1990 May 19;126(20):513 no authors listed Spongiform encephalopathy in a cat.

Vet Rec 1990 May 12;126(19):489-90 Gibson PH Spongiform encephalopathy in an eland.

Nature. 1990 Mar 15;344(6263):183 Aldhous P. Antelopes die of "mad cow" disease.

Vet Rec 1990 Apr 21;126(16):408-9 Fleetwood AJ, Furley CW Spongiform encephalopathy in an eland.

Vet Pathol. 1988 Sep;25(5):398-9 Jeffrey M, Wells GA Spongiform encephalopathy in a nyala (Tragelaphus angasi) Lasswade Veterinary Laboratory, Midlothian

Terry S. Singeltary Sr. P.O. Box 42 Bacliff, Texas USA 77518

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Fecal transmission of AA amyloidosis in the cheetah contributes to high incidence of disease

Fecal transmission of AA amyloidosis in the cheetah contributes to high incidence of disease

Beiru Zhang*†, Yumi Une‡, Xiaoying Fu*, Jingmin Yan*, FengXia Ge*, Junjie Yao*§, Jinko Sawashita*, Masayuki Mori*, Hiroshi Tomozawa¶, Fuyuki Kametani, and Keiichi Higuchi*‡** *Department of Aging Biology, Institute on Aging and Adaptation, Shinshu University Graduate School of Medicine, and ¶Division of Laboratory Animal Research, Research Center for Human and Environmental Science, Shinshu University, 3-1-1, Asahi, Matsumoto 390-8621, Japan; †Department of Nephrology, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning 110004, China; ‡Laboratory of Veterinary Pathology, School of Veterinary Medicine, Azabu University, 1-17-71 Fuchinobe, Sagamihara, Kanagawa 229-8501, Japan; §The Core Research for Evolutional Science and Technology, Japan Science and Technology Corporation, Tokyo 183-8508, Japan; and Tokyo Institute of Psychiatry, Tokyo Metropolitan Organization for Medical Research, Tokyo 156-8585, Japan Edited by Reed B. Wickner, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, and approved April 1, 2008 (received for review January 16, 2008)

AA amyloidosis is one of the principal causes of morbidity and mortality in captive cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus), which are in danger of extinction, but little is known about the underlying mechanisms. Given the transmissible characteristics of AA amyloidosis, transmission between captive cheetahs may be a possible mechanism involved in the high incidence of AA amyloidosis. In this study of animals with AA amyloidosis, we found that cheetah feces contained AA amyloid fibrils that were different from those of the liver with regard to molecular weight and shape and had greater transmissibility. The infectious activity of fecal AA amyloid fibrils was reduced or abolished by the protein denaturants 6 M guanidineHCl and formic acid or by AA immunodepletion. Thus, we propose that feces are a vehicle of transmission that may accelerate AA amyloidosis in captive cheetah populations. These results provide a pathogenesis for AA amyloidosis and suggest possible measures for rescuing cheetahs from extinction. feces  transmissibility

The amyloidoses are a group of protein misfolding disorders characterized by the accumulation of amyloid fibrils formed from a variety of proteins that, under normal physiological conditions, are harmless and soluble. Currently, 25 amyloid diseases have been identified, such as the prion diseases, Alzheimer’s disease, type 2 diabetes, and various systematic amyloidoses (1). Although the various proteins that can polymerize into amyloid fibrils have unrelated sequences, they can all form fibrils with a similar ultrastructural appearance. Among them, prion diseases such as transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE), including scrapie in sheep, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), and chronic wasting disease (CWD) of deer and elk, are highly infectious (2). In these diseases, prion (PrPSc), an abnormal form of the host cellular prion protein (PrPC), induces the conformational change of PrPC to the PrPSc and causes a detectable phenotype or disease in the affected individual. AA amyloidosis, known as reactive or secondary amyloidosis, is generally recognized as the predominant form of systemic amyloidosis that occurs in domestic animals and the animal kingdom (3). This disease is characterized by the systemic deposition of extracellular fibrils composed of amyloid A protein, primarily in the spleen; liver; and, to a lesser extent, in other organs. In most species, AA amyloidosis occurs sporadically and is typically secondary to chronic inflammation, infection, or neoplasia. Intriguing recent data suggest that AA amyloidosis could be transmitted by a prion-like infectious process through a seeding-nucleation mechanism (4–7). Thus, the fibrillar nuclei formed by the aggregation of misfolded protein monomers (rich in -sheet structures) act as seeds to induce and stabilize conversion of the native monomeric protein (8–9). This mechanism provides a plausible explanation for the transmissible nature of AA amyloidosis. AA amyloidosis can be easily induced when mice are given an extract from AA amyloid-laden tissue (10, 11) or synthetic amyloid-like fibrils (12, 13), providing further evidence for transmissibility. The cheetah species (Acinonyx jubatus) is in danger of extinction and is included on The World Conservation Union list of vulnerable species. Although efforts have been made in wildlife sanctuary parks and zoos worldwide to prevent extinction, a steady increase in the size of the cheetah population is hampered by the high prevalence of certain diseases in captive cheetahs. In particular, systemic AA amyloidosis is regarded as an increasingly important cause of morbidity and mortality in captive cheetahs as prevalence increased from 20% in pre-1990 reported necropsies to an unusual 70% of necropsied cheetahs in 1995 (14). Despite much effort, the pathogenesis for AA amyloidosis in cheetahs is still only partially understood. Inflammatory diseases, especially chronic lymphoplasmacytic gastritis, found in 100% of cheetahs with AA amyloidosis (14), and genetic homogeneity have been considered as causes for the increased incidence of AA amyloidosis (15). However, environmental epidemiological studies indicate that breeding conditions have a prominent effect on the incidence of AA amyloidosis. A high rearing density is always associated with early age of onset, and with the high incidence and severity of AA amyloidosis, findings similar to sheep scrapie and cervid CWD. Thus, sustained epidemics of sheep scrapie and cervid CWD appear to be principally due to horizontal (animal to animal) transmission, although the routes of natural transmission remain to be clarified (16, 17). The propagation of AA amyloidosis among captive cheetah populations may also depend on a horizontal transmission pathway. Identification of the mode of transmission is a prerequisite for disease control. In this study, we show that the feces from a cheetah with AA amyloidosis can act as a possible transmission origin to accelerate the transmission of AA amyloidosis.

Results

snip...

Discussion It is currently accepted that systemic AA amyloidosis is an increasingly important cause of morbidity and mortality in captive cheetah populations (14). For conservation of this species, therefore, it is critical to elucidate the etiology of AA amyloidosis. As with sheep scrapie and cervid CWD, the routes of transmission are among the most debated and intriguing issues. InfectiousCWDprions in saliva have been identified to be involved in transmission in high-density captive situations (19, 20). Recently, available evidence indicates that an environmental reservoir of infectivity contributes to the continuation of these diseases in affected populations. These infectious agents can be transmitted by flesh flies (21) or hay mites (22) and can directly enter the environment from decomposing carcasses of infected animals (23). Environmental contamination by excreta from infected cervids has also seemed the most plausible explanation for the dissemination of CWD (24). Scrapie-infected hamsters and Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (CJD) patients were reported to excrete urinary protease-resistant PrP isoform (25), indicating that urinary excretion from infected animals may provide a vector for horizontal transmission. However, there are studies that are not consistent with these findings (26, 27). Perhaps unrecognized nephritic conditions may underlie these discrepant observations, because it has been reported that urinary prion excretion is found only in scrapie-infected mice with lymphocytic nephritis (28). In this study, we observed several bands with high molecular weights that reacted with anti-cheetah AA antiserum in the whole urine sample, but not in the urine pellet in whichAAamyloid fibrils should be recovered. We thought that the possibility for a transmission pathway through urine might be low, but it could not be ruled out. In addition to urine, the alimentary shedding route has been considered as a possible transmission pathway (29). Abnormal prion protein is present in gut-associated lymphoid tissues of mule deer infected with CWD, consistent with an alimentary shedding route (30). In this study, we showed that the fecal fraction from a cheetah with amyloidosis had AA amyloid fibrils and possessed high transmissibility. In mouse AApoAII amyloidosis, regarded recently as another transmissible amyloidosis (5–7), we also demonstrated that the feces could serve as an agent to induce amyloidosis in recipient mice (31). These results shed new light on the etiology involved in the high incidence of AA amyloidosis in cheetahs. In this study, we unexpectedly found that the amyloid fibril fraction from feces had smaller amyloid fibrils and higher sensitivity to denaturation treatment than the liver amyloid fibril fraction. In mammalian prion, it has been demonstrated that there is a very strong correlation between seeding capability and amyloid fibril conformation (32, 33). Similarly, in yeast prion, it also has been indicated that [PSI] with stronger infectivity typically have less stable fibrils in vivo than strains with weaker infectivity (34), and the prion strain with relatively smaller prion particles is always associated with greater frangibility and increased sensitivity to denaturants (35). The enhanced frangibility is presumably involved in the increase in seeding efficiency and prion infectivity, while the high sensitivity probably results from structural differences in inter-molecular contacts and a shorter, less stable amyloid core. The divergent ultrastructure between the fecal and the liver fibrils identified by transmission electron microscopy may be responsible for the different characteristics of transmissibility and sensitivity to denaturation treatment, analogous to prion protein. It has been reported that AA amyloidosis can be experimentally induced by i.v. or i.p. administration of AA amyloid fibrillar extracts in recipient mice (10). A few recent studies have shown that AA-containing extracts also had amyloid-inducing activity when administered orally to mice (36, 37). In AApoAII amyloidosis, we ported that an oral administration of AApoAII amyloid fibrils induced amyloidosis in recipient mice (38). Thus, it is plausible that oral ingestion of AA-containing fecal matter caused amyloid deposition in the cheetah population. At this juncture, the manner in which fecal matter is initially absorbed by the cheetahs is not clear. This may occur during mutual grooming (licking of the fur contaminated by fecal matter). Recently it was shown that a prion agent could bind to whole soil and common soil minerals and retain infectivity for a prolonged period (23, 39). Thus, soil may act as a reservoir capable of contaminating both food and fur. It is also unknown how AA fibril proteins enter the feces. Because AA amyloidosis was also in the small intestines of AA amyloidosis cheetahs, it is possible that AA proteins enter the feces through exfoliated mucosa. In conclusion, we found that cheetahs with amyloidosis pass fecal matter that had strong seeding efficiency and should be regarded as a transmission medium. To control the incidence of AA amyloidosis and reduce the likelihood of the animal’s extinction, prevention of the transmission with excretion from cheetahs with amyloidosis should be considered along with reduction of precursor SAA levels.

snip... full text pdf ;

http://www.pnas.org/cgi/reprint/0800367105v1


Greetings,

I have two comments ;

To control the incidence of AA amyloidosis and reduce the likelihood of the animal’s extinction, prevention of the transmission with excretion from cheetahs with amyloidosis should be considered along with reduction of precursor SAA levels.<<<

considering AA amyloidosis in humans, should we consider this same risk factor for humans, i.e. 'extinction' and 'prevention of transmission with excretion' and Alzheimer's ?

In particular, systemic AA amyloidosis is regarded as an increasingly important cause of morbidity and mortality in captive cheetahs as prevalence increased from 20% in pre-1990 reported necropsies to an unusual 70% of necropsied cheetahs in 1995 (14).<<<

hmmm, big increase, and key word here is 'CAPTIVE'. WHAT WERE THESE CHEETAHS FED ? i.e. dead stock downers maybe ?

These cheetahs are reported elsewhere to have been fed cattle delicacies such as split spinal cords, whole necks, whole skulls, and split skulls from which the knacker had "removed" CNS material, as late as 1993.

Switcheroo -- MAFF web site mysteries 19 Apr 99 webmaster correspondence with MAFF "help" desk The MAFF staff actually responds helpfully to substantative question about material on their Web site though delays occur. The webmaster wrote MAFFon 16 April 1999 thanking them for their 15 Apr 99 update on animals that have succumbed to confirmed TSE and asking for dates of death on unpublished cases in tigers, ocelots, pumas, and bison that are listed on their site. These animals died some years back but nothing has ever appeared. On 17 Apr 99, the webmaster wrote again about something very puzzling: an allusion to cheetahs on line 15 and 29 whereas no such line numbers existed on the web page. Evidently they were holding back a line-by-line database of animals that would be very useful to scientists and conservationists around the world.. Very ominiouly, the cheetah lines went up to 29 whereas they showed "only" 5 British cheetahs (at Marwell and Whipsnade) plus 4 exported cheetahs [not furnished but Fota, Pearle Coast, and Safari de Peugres x 2]. There is nothing special about cheetahs and BSE other than they have a shorter incubation time than some of the other felids.

These cheetahs are reported elsewhere to have been fed cattle delicacies such as split spinal cords, whole necks, whole skulls, and split skulls from which the knacker had "removed" CNS material, as late as 1993. No cheetah has ever been autopsied that did not display clinical signs of TSE; 11 cheetahs died at Marwell alone in the mid-90's but apparently were incinerated without autopsy or freezing samples despite the zoo's track record.

The response to my polite inquiry: none. Well, actually there was a response: the MAFF webmaster quietly deleted any mention of the database. The switheroo occured on Mon, Apr 19, 1999 10:59 AM GMT according to Netscape 'document info', taking the site back to an earlier version of the document not mentioning line 15 and 29 and deleting the name of Marwell Zoo (the cheetah BSE factory).

However, I had saved the original page to disk. Here is what the deleted top secret MAFF page actually said:

"Not included above are two cheetahs at zoos in Australia and the Republic of Ireland. Both were apparently litter mates and exported from Marwell zoo, where the cheetahs on lines 15 and 29 were born. Two cases in cheetahs were also confirmed in France, one in January 1997, in an animal born at Whipsnade zoo in 1989. Details are awaited for the second case, but it is reported to have been born in Britain*." *Why don't they just ring up the French team and find out -- they published the abstract 8 months ago in August of 1998. They gave a presentation at the Chester Zoo published in the Proceedings of the EAZWV on May 24-24, 1998.

MAFF came through (somewhat) on 13 May 1999. Though the names of the zoos could not be supplied and the cheetah line 29 business could not be explained, birth and death dates of zoo BSE animals supplement the published record.

http://www.mad-cow.org/zoo_cites_annotated.html


New BSE-like disease found in cheetah 06/09/2007 - 17:52:28

A cheetah at a zoo in Nuremberg has died after contracting an illness similar to mad cow disease, becoming the first confirmed case in Germany of feline spongiform encephalopathy (FSE), city authorities said today.

Lulu, a female cheetah born in 1998, had suffered for six weeks from problems that included trouble balancing and weakness in her hind legs, the Nuremberg city government said in a statement.

The animal eventually was put to sleep, and tests by Bavarian and federal labs were positive for FSE, it added.

It was unclear how and when Lulu became infected with the disease, which has a several-year incubation period, but Nuremberg authorities said it likely happened in the Netherlands, where she was born.

Lulu moved to Germany at the age of 15 months, returned to the Netherlands five years later and arrived at the Nuremberg zoo in March 2006.

http://www.breakingnews.ie/world/mhcwgbqlkfcw/


http://www.eveningecho.ie/news/bstory.asp?j=230658672&p=z3x659378&n=230659432


http://www.live-pr.com/en/bse-like-disease-detected-in-german-zoo-s-r1048136284.htm


GREETINGS,

interesting to say the least. how could this cheetah have contracted FSE?

feed with FSE ?

casual contact with FSE in zoo ?

remember the man and his cat whom both had sporadic CJD;

In October 1998 the simultaneous occurrence of spongiform encephalopathy in a man and his pet cat was reported. The report from Italy noted that the cat did not display the same clinical features as FSE cases previously seen. Indeed, the presence of a new type of FSE was suggested. The man was diagnosed as having sporadic CJD, and neither case (man nor cat) appeared to be affected by a BSE-related condition.

http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/bse/bse-science/level-4-othertses.html:


Image] Research letters Volume 352, Number 9134 [Image] 3 October1998[Previous] [Next] [Image][Image] Simultaneous occurrence of spongiform encephalopathy in a manand his cat in Italy

[Image] Gianluigi Zanusso, Ettore Nardelli, Anna Rosati, GianMaria Fabrizi, SergioFerrari, Antonella Carteri, Franco De Simone, Nicola Rizzuto, SalvatoreMonaco

Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSE) encompass inherited,acquired, and sporadic mammalian neurological disorders, and arecharacterised by the conversion of the cellular prion protein (PrP) in aninsoluble and protease-resistant isoform (PrPres). In human TSE, four typesof PrPres have been identified according to size and glycoform ratios, whichmay represent different prion strains. Type-1 and type-2 PrPres areassociated with sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), type 3 withiatrogenic CJD, and type 4 with variant CJD.1,2 There is evidence thatvariant CJD is caused by the bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE)-prionstrain.2-4 The BSE strain has been identified in three cats with felinespongiform encephalopathy (FSE), a prion disease which appeared in 1990 inthe UK.5 We report the simultaneous occurrence of sporadic CJD in a man anda new variety of FSE in his cat. A 60-year-old man, with no unusual dietary habits, was admitted in November,1993, because of dysarthria, cerebellar ataxic gait, visual agnosia, andmyoclonus. An electroencephalogram (EEG) showed diffuse theta-deltaactivity. A brain magnetic resonance imaging scan was unremarkable. 10 dayslater, he was speechless and able to follow only simple commands. RepeatEEGs showed periodic triphasic complexes. 2 weeks after admission, he wasmute, akinetic, and unable to swallow. He died in early January, 1994. His 7-year-old, neutered, female shorthaired cat presented in November,1993, with episodes of frenzy, twitching of its body, and hyperaesthesia.The cat was usually fed on canned food and slept on its owner's bed. Nobites from the cat were recalled. In the next few days, the cat becameataxic, with hindquarter locomotor dysfunction; the ataxia got worse andthere was diffuse myoclonus. The cat was killed in mid-January, 1994. No pathogenic mutations in the patient's PrP gene were found. The patientand the cat were methionine homozygous at codon 129. Histology of thepatient's brain showed neocortical and cerebellar neuronal loss,astrocytosis, and spongiosis (figure A). PrP immunoreactivity showed apunctate pattern and paralleled spongiform changes (figure B). The cat'sbrain showed mild and focal spongiosis in deeper cortical layers of all fourlobes (figure C), vacuolated cortical neurons (figure D), and mildastrogliosis. The cerebellar cortex and the dentate nucleus were gliosed.Immunoreactive PrP showed a punctate pattern in neocortex, allocortex, andcaudate nucleus (figure E). Western blot analysis of control and affectedhuman and cat brain homogenates showed 3 PrP bands of 27-35 kDa. Afterdigestion with proteinase K and deglycosylation, only samples from theaffected patient and cat showed type-1 PrPres, with PrP glycoform ratioscomparable to those observed in sporadic CJD1 (details available fromauthor). [Image] Microscopic sections of patient and cat brains A: Occipital cortex of the patient showing moderate spongiformdegeneration and neuronal loss (haematoxylin and eosin) and B: punctateperineuronal pattern of PrP immunoreactivity; peroxidaseimmunohistochemistry with monoclonal antibody 3F4. C: cat parietal cortexshowing mild spongiform degeneration (haematoxylin and eosin).D:vacuolated neurons (arrow, haematoxylin and eosin), E: peroxidaseimmunohistochemistry with antibody 3F4 shows punctate perineuronaldeposition of PrP in temporal cortex. This study shows a spatio-temporal association between human and felineprion diseases. The clinical features of the cat were different frompreviously reported cases of FSE which were characterised by gradual onsetof behavioural changes preceding locomotor dysfunction and ataxia.5Neuropathological changes were also at variance with the diffuse spongiosisand vacuolation of brainstem neurons, seen in FSE.5 The synaptic pattern ofPrP deposition, similar in the cat and in the patient, was atypical for aBSE-related condition. Evidence of a new type of FSE was further provided bythe detection of a type-1 PrPres, other than the BSE-associated type 4.2Taken together, our data suggest that the same agent strain of sporadic CJ as involved in the patient and in his cat. It is unknown whether these TSE occurred as the result of horizontaltransmission in either direction, infection from an unknown common source,or the chance occurrence of two sporadic forms.

1 Parchi P, Castellani R, Capellari S, et al. Molecular basis of phenotypicvariablity in sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Ann Neurol 1996; 39:767-78 [PubMed]. 2 Collinge J, Sidle KCL, Meads J, Ironside J, Hill AF. Molecular analysis ofprion strain variation and the aetiology of 'new variant' CJD. Nature 1996;383: 685-90 [PubMed]. 3 Bruce ME, Will RG, Ironside JW, et al. Transmissions to mice indicate that'new variant' CJD is caused by the BSE agent. Nature 1997; 389: 498-501[PubMed]. 4 Hill AF, Desbruslais M, Joiner S, et al. The same prion strain causes vCJDand BSE. Nature 1997; 389: 448-50 [PubMed]. 5 Pearson GR, Wyatt JM, Henderson JP, Gruffydd-Jones TJ. Feline spongiformencephalopathy: a review. Vet Annual 1993; 33: 1-10. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sezione di Neurologie Clinica, Dipartimento di Scienze Neurologiche e dellaVisione, Università di Verona, Policlinico Borgo Roma, 37134 Verona, Italy(S Monaco; e mail rizzuto@Gorgorna.univr.it); and Istituto ZooprofilatticoSperimentale della Lombardia e dell' Emilia, Brescia =========================================TSS indeed there have been 4 documented cases of TSE in Lions to date. Lion 32 December 98 Born November 86 Lion 33 May 1999 (euthanased) Born November 81. Lion 36 Euthanased August 2000 Born July 87. Deteriorating hind limb ataxia. Lion 37 Euthanased November 2001 Male, 14 years. Deteriorating hind limb ataxia since September 2001. (Litter mate to Ref. 36.) http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/bse/index.html go to the url above, on the bar at the top, click on _statistics_, then in middle of next page, click on_other TSEs_. or go here;

http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/bse/bse-statistics/level-3-tsestat.html:


and http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/bse/bse-science/level-4-othertses.html:


http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/yb/1992/11/13001001.pdf:


also; Reports on the clinical symptoms presented by these cats give a relatively homogeneous picture: Affected cats show a lack of coordination with an ataxia mainly of the hind limbs, they often fall and miss their target when jumping. Fear and increased aggressiveness against the owner and also other animals is often seen. They do not longer tolerate to be touched (stroked) and start hiding. These behavioural chances might be the result of a hypersensibility to touch and noise, but also to increased fear. Excessive salivation is another more frequently seen symptom. Cats with FSE in general show severe behavioural disturbances, restlessness and depression, and a lack of coat cleaning. Symptoms in large cats in general are comparable to those in domestic cats. A report on FSE (in german) has been presented in 2001 in the Swiss FVO Magazin. A paper on the first FSE case in a domestic cat in Switzerland is currently in press in the Journal Schweizer Archiv für Tierheilkunde (SAT).

http://www.neurocenter-bern.ch/tse_e.shtml:


Article Posted: 04/15/2007 9:16:48 PM

Human and Animal Food Poisoning with Mad Cow a Slow Death

an editorial by Terry S. Singeltary Sr.

HUMAN AND ANIMAL FOOD POISONING WITH MAD COW DISEASEs A SLOW DEATH

WITH all the pet food deaths mounting from tainted pet food, all the suffering not only the animals are going through, but there owners as well, why are owners of these precious animals not crying about the mad cow tainted animal carcasses they poison there animals with everyday, and have been for decades, why not an uproar about that? well, let me tell you why, they don't drop dead immediately, it's a slow death, they simply call it FELINE and or CANINE ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE, DEMENTIA OR MAD CAT/DOG DISEASE i.e. FSE and they refuse to document CSE i.e.Canine Spongiform Encephalopathy, but it's there and there is some strange pathological findings on that topic that was convientantly swept under the rug. Sadly, this happens everyday with humans, once again confidently swept under the rug as Alzheimer's and or dementia i.e. fast Alzheimer's. Who wants to spend money on an autopsy on an old dog or cat? Sadly, it's the same with humans, you get old and demented your either die or your family puts you in an old folks home and forgets about you, then you die, and again, no autopsy in most cases. Imagine 4.5 annually with Alzheimer's, with and estimated 20+ million dieing a slow death by 2050, and in reality it will most likely be much higher than that now that the blood supply has been infiltrated with the TSE agent, and we now know that blood is another route and source for this hideous disease. It's hell getting old now a days.

NOW, for the ones that don't believe me, well mad cow has been in the USA for decades undetected officially, but the late Richard Marsh documented way back, again, swept under the rug. Then in 2003 in December, the first case of BSE was finally documented, by accident. Then you had the next two cases that were documented in Texas and Alabama, but it took an act of Congress, literally, to get those finally documented, and when they were finally documented, they were atypical BSE or Bovine Amyloid Spongiform Encephalopathy (BASE), which when transmitted to humans is not vCJD or nvCJD, but SPORADIC CJD. Now you might ask yourself what about that mad cow feed ban of August 4, 1997, the year my mother died from the Heidenhain Variant of Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease (confirmed), well that ruminant to ruminant was merely a regulation on paper that nobody enforced. Just last month there was 10+ PLUS MILLION POUNDS OF BANNED BLOOD TAINTED MBM DISPERSED INTO COMMERCE, and there is no way the FDA will ever recover it. It will be fed out again. 2006 was a banner year for FDA mad cow protein fed out into commerce. Looks like 2007 will be also. Our federal Government has failed us at every corner when it comes to food safety. maybe your dog, your cat, your mom, your dad, your aunt, or your uncle, but again, who cares, there old and demented, just put them down, or put them away. It's hell getting old. ...END

http://www.swnebr.net/newspaper/cgi-bin/articles/articlearchiver.pl?160273


http://newhopetoday.blogspot.com/2007/04/article-posted-04152007-91648-pm-human.html


http://www.emaxhealth.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12779


FELINE AND CANINE ALZHEIMER'S OR MAD CAT/DOG DISEASE AND PET FOOD ... ...TSS Name: Terry S. Singeltary Sr. Date: Jan 26, 2007 Dear Terry S. Singeltary Sr. ... specifically dry dog food, some of which was reported to have been ... [url]www.kxmb.com/getArticle.asp?ArticleId=113652[/url] - 107k -

http://www.kxmb.com/getForumPost.asp?ArticleId=113652


FELINE AND CANINE ALZHEIMER'S OR MAD CAT/DOG DISEASE AND PET FOOD ... ...TSS Name: Terry S. Singeltary Sr. Date: Jan 26, 2007 Dear Terry S. Singeltary ... so that the dog food will not mistakenly be mixed into cattle or other ... [url]www.kxnet.com/t/schools/113652.asp[/url] - 107k -

http://www.kxnet.com/getForumPost.asp?ArticleId=113652


Crushed heads (which inevitably involve brain and spinal cord material) are used to a limited extent but will also form one of the constituent raw materials of meat and bone meal, which is used extensively in pet food manufacturer...

http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/yb/1989/03/17004001.pdf


QUESTION, IS U.S.A. FOOD PRODUCTION SYSTEM POISONING US ?

What Do We Feed to Food-Production Animals? A Review of Animal Feed Ingredients and Their Potential Impacts on Human Health

Amy R. Sapkota,1,2 Lisa Y. Lefferts,1,3 Shawn McKenzie,1 and Polly Walker1 1Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA; 2Maryland Institute for Applied Environmental Health, College of Health and Human Performance, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA; 3Lisa Y. Lefferts Consulting, Nellysford, Virginia, USA

snip...

Table 1. Animal feed ingredients that are legally used in U.S. animal feeds

Animal

Rendered animal protein from Meat meal, meat meal tankage, meat and bone meal, poultry meal, animal the slaughter of food by-product meal, dried animal blood, blood meal, feather meal, egg-shell production animals and other meal, hydrolyzed whole poultry, hydrolyzed hair, bone marrow, and animal animals digest from dead, dying, diseased, or disabled animals including deer and elk Animal waste Dried ruminant waste, dried swine waste, dried poultry litter, and undried processed animal waste products

snip...

Conclusions

Food-animal production in the United States has changed markedly in the past century, and these changes have paralleled major changes in animal feed formulations. While this industrialized system of food-animal production may result in increased production efficiencies, some of the changes in animal feeding practices may result in unintended adverse health consequences for consumers of animal-based food products. Currently, the use of animal feed ingredients, including rendered animal products, animal waste, antibiotics, metals, and fats, could result in higher levels of bacteria, antibioticresistant bacteria, prions, arsenic, and dioxinlike compounds in animals and resulting animal-based food products intended for human consumption. Subsequent human health effects among consumers could include increases in bacterial infections (antibioticresistant and nonresistant) and increases in the risk of developing chronic (often fatal) diseases such as vCJD. Nevertheless, in spite of the wide range of potential human health impacts that could result from animal feeding practices, there are little data collected at the federal or state level concerning the amounts of specific ingredients that are intentionally included in U.S. animal feed. In addition, almost no biological or chemical testing is conducted on complete U.S. animal feeds; insufficient testing is performed on retail meat products; and human health effects data are not appropriately linked to this information. These surveillance inadequacies make it difficult to conduct rigorous epidemiologic studies and risk assessments that could identify the extent to which specific human health risks are ultimately associated with animal feeding practices. For example, as noted above, there are insufficient data to determine whether other human foodborne bacterial illnesses besides those caused by S. enterica serotype Agona are associated with animal feeding practices. Likewise, there are insufficient data to determine the percentage of antibiotic-resistant human bacterial infections that are attributed to the nontherapeutic use of antibiotics in animal feed. Moreover, little research has been conducted to determine whether the use of organoarsenicals in animal feed, which can lead to elevated levels of arsenic in meat products (Lasky et al. 2004), contributes to increases in cancer risk. In order to address these research gaps, the following principal actions are necessary within the United States: a) implementation of a nationwide reporting system of the specific amounts and types of feed ingredients of concern to public health that are incorporated into animal feed, including antibiotics, arsenicals, rendered animal products, fats, and animal waste; b) funding and development of robust surveillance systems that monitor biological, chemical, and other etiologic agents throughout the animal-based food-production chain from farm to for, to human health outcomes; and c) increased communication and collaboration among feed professionals, food-animal producers, and veterinary and public health officials.

REFERENCES...snip...end

Sapkota et al. 668 VOLUME 115 NUMBER 5 May 2007 Environmental Health Perspectives

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/picrender.fcgi?artid=1867957&blobtype=pdf


IN STRICT CONFIDENCE

TRANSMISSION OF ALZHEIMER-TYPE PLAQUES TO PRIMATES

http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/yb/1993/01/05004001.pdf


Alzheimer's and CJD

http://betaamyloidcjd.blogspot.com/


Saturday, March 22, 2008

10 Million Baby Boomers to have Alzheimer's in the coming decades 2008 Alzheimer’s disease facts and figures

http://betaamyloidcjd.blogspot.com/2008/03/10-million-baby-boomers-to-have.html


Original Paper

Association between Deposition of Beta-Amyloid and Pathological Prion Protein in Sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease

Laura Debatina, Johannes Strefferb, Markus Geissenc, Jakob Matschkec, Adriano Aguzzia, Markus Glatzela, c

http://betaamyloidcjd.blogspot.com/2008/03/association-between-deposition-of-beta.html


Sunday, April 27, 2008 re-Association between Deposition of Beta-Amyloid and Pathological Prion Protein in Sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Greetings,

I thought this most important research by Aguzzi et al 'Association between Deposition of Beta-Amyloid and Pathological Prion Protein in Sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease' most important, and thought further reading of this study should be at hand.

http://betaamyloidcjd.blogspot.com/2008/04/re-association-between-deposition-of.html


Terry S. Singeltary Sr. P.O. Box 42 Bacliff, Texas USA 77518

Sunday, April 27, 2008

re-Association between Deposition of Beta-Amyloid and Pathological Prion Protein in Sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease

Greetings,

I thought this most important research by Aguzzi et al 'Association between Deposition of Beta-Amyloid and Pathological Prion Protein in Sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease' most important, and thought further reading of this study should be at hand. It seems that more research is further showing that the infamous 'one-in-a-million' diagnosis of CJD that was and is quoted all the time, and or the recently revised guess of 'one case per 9000 in adults age 55 and older', is dreadfully low and inaccurate, thus causing the potential for further exposure and transmission via the medical, surgical, and dental routes. for this reason it is paramount that all TSE be made reportable of all age groups, in every state. it must be made reportable nationally and internationally. also, I think it most important to further research the transmission of Alzheimer's disease, and find out if there is a risk of transmission via the proven routes as the TSE i.e. consumption, medical, surgical, dental, and if so, there may be a need to make Alzheimer's disease a reportable disease as well. ...TSS

PLEASE note, in my ignorance, and my machines, a few LETTERS/SYMBOLS describing B -amyloid (A B ) and apolipoprotein E e 4 will not be displayed properly i.e. the 'B' and the 'e' ...TSS

Association between Deposition of Beta-Amyloid and Pathological Prion Protein in Sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease

Laura Debatin a Johannes Streffer b Markus Geissen c Jakob Matschke c Adriano Aguzzi a Markus Glatzel a, c

a Institute of Neuropathology, and b Division of Psychiatry Research, University Hospital Zurich, Zurich , Switzerland; c Institute of Neuropathology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg , Germany

Copyright © 2008 S. Karger AG, Basel

Abstract

Background: Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and prion diseases such as sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (sCJD) share common features concerning their molecular pathogenesis and neuropathological presentation and the coexistence of AD and CJD in patients suggest an association between the deposition of the proteolytically processed form of the amyloid precursor protein, B -amyloid (A B ), which deposits in AD, and the abnormal form of the prion protein, PrP Sc , which deposits in sCJD. Methods: We have characterized sCJD patients (n = 14), AD patients (n = 5) and nondemented controls (n = 5) with respect to the deposition of PrP Sc and A B morphologically, biochemically and genetically and correlated these findings to clinical data. Results: sCJD-diseased individuals with abundant deposits of A B present with a specific clinicopathological profile, defined by higher age at disease onset, long disease duration, a genetic profile and only minimal amounts of PrP Sc in the cerebellum. Conclusion: The co-occurrence of pathological changes typical for sCJD and AD in combination with the inverse association between accumulation of A B and PrP Sc in a subgroup of sCJD patients is indicative of common pathways involved in the generation or clearance of A B and PrP Sc in a subgroup of sCJD patients.

Copyright © 2008 S. Karger AG, Basel

Introduction

snip...

Discussion

In a wide range of dementias, generation and subsequent deposition of abnormally processed proteins is thought to be causally involved in the pathophysiology of the disease and assessment of protein deposition can be employed as a diagnostic tool for the classification of these entities [28]. AD and CJD are two examples of this group of diseases, where generation and deposition of abnormally processed proteins, PrP Sc in the case of sCJD and A B in the case of AD, are involved in the pathophysiology. Coexistence of AD-type neuropathology in sCJD has been repeatedly reported, yet the interpretation of these findings is highly controversial. Some investigators surmise unspecific age-related changes [11] , others assume that this points to similarities in the pathogenesis of AD and CJD [29] . In this study, we characterized deposition of A B in sCJD patients by immunohistochemistry, Western blotting, ELISA and genetic investigations. Using biochemical methods we were able to identify a subgroup of sCJD patients, which is defined by high cerebral A B 42 loads. These patients were on average more than 6 years older than those with minimal or no depos-

its of A B 42 , presented with significantly longer disease durations, were more likely to carry an uncommon polymorphism on PRNP codon 129 or deposit PrP Sc type 2 [30] and had a high likelihood to carry at least one allele of apolipoprotein E e 4. Interestingly, these patients harbor only minimal amounts of PrP Sc in the cerebellum. This clinicopathological signature suggests that this group of patients represents a subgroup of sCJD.

A study focusing on the assessment of genetic profiles of sCJD demonstrated that the apolipoprotein E e 4 allele is an independent risk factor for developing sCJD [31, 32] . In this study, we provide evidence that the apolipoprotein E e 4 status may be linked to the development of a subtype of sCJD. The above-mentioned study did not investigate A B loads in apolipoprotein E e 4-positive sCJD patients. One could hypothesize that patients identified by van Everbroeck et al. [32] belong to the subgroup of sCJD patients characterized by abundant A B and scarce PrP Sc deposits.

A study focusing on the influence of PrP C expression on A B plaque formation suggested that overexpression of PrP C promotes A B plaque formation [15] . Given the fact that PrP C expression is unchanged during the course of prion disease [33] , PrP C upregulation is an unlikely explanation for enhanced A B deposition in certain sCJD patients. Since accumulation of malprocessed proteins in the brain is the result of the differential between its de novo generation and its clearance, it is conceivable that A B deposition in sCJD may be the result of a saturation of common clearance mechanisms [34, 35] . This hypothesis is supported by a wealth of data suggesting that similar processes of protein degradation are in place for PrP Sc and A B [36–38] .

In an attempt to delineate possible molecular pathways explaining the abundant generation of A B 42 in a subset of sCJD patients, we measured central nervous system expression of B -secretase, a key protease for the generation of A B [27] . Several studies have shown that B -secretase activity and protein expression are increased in the cortex of patients suffering from AD [26, 39, 40] . Furthermore, BACE activity seems to be increased in the cerebrospinal fluid of sCJD patients [41] . The fact that we did not find any significant differences in BACE expression is in agreement with published studies and may indicate alternative pathways for A B generation in these patients [41] .

The group of sCJD patients with high cerebral levels of A B 42 showed minimal deposits of PrP Sc . PrP Sc profiling allowed us to directly compare PrP Sc levels between sCJD cohorts [22] . PrP Sc levels showed the most drastic differences in the cerebellum. PrP Sc levels in low A B 42 patients uniformly showed high cerebellar PrP Sc loads, whereas PrP Sc levels in high A B 42 patients uniformly showed low or nondetectable cerebellar PrP Sc levels. Interestingly, cerebellar involvement is a rarity in AD [42] . It has been speculated that the descriptive classification

of AD may camouflage CJD [43] . Although one could argue that the subgroup of sCJD we have identified could have been misdiagnosed as AD, thus supporting the above-mentioned hypothesis, the sCJD typical clinical presentation of these patients argues against the theory that sCJD is commonly misdiagnosed as AD. Taking into account that the majority of cerebral proteinopathies are characterized by deposition of more than one abnormally processed protein [28] , neuropathological diagnosis of dementia should only be carried out in centers equipped to monitor deposition of all disease-associated proteins.

In conclusion, the present study provides evidence for the existence of a subgroup of sCJD characterized by abundant A B 42 deposits, high age at onset of disease, a specific genetic profile and only marginal deposits of PrP Sc . These data are in line with common molecular mechanisms leading to the deposition of A B and PrP Sc . Their delineation will be the focus of future studies. The fact that this newly defined group of patients harbors only minimal amounts of PrP Sc is intriguing. On the one hand, this represents a challenge to neuropathologists, and on the other hand, the possibility that minimal PrP Sc deposits may go undetected could lead to the misdiagnosis of AD.

snip...full text ;

http://content.karger.com/produktedb/produkte.asp?typ=fulltext&file=000121389

Singeltary, Sr et al. JAMA.2001; 285: 733-734.

Diagnosis and Reporting of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease

Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

To the Editor:

In their Research Letter, Dr Gibbons and colleagues1 reported that the annual US death rate due to Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) has been stable since 1985. These estimates, however, are based only on reported cases, and do not include misdiagnosed or preclinical cases. It seems to me that misdiagnosis alone would drastically change these figures. An unknown number of persons with a diagnosis of Alzheimer disease in fact may have CJD, although only a small number of these patients receive the postmortem examination necessary to make this diagnosis. Furthermore, only a few states have made CJD reportable. Human and animal transmissible spongiform encephalopathies should be reportable nationwide and internationally.

Terry S. Singeltary, Sr Bacliff, Tex

1. Gibbons RV, Holman RC, Belay ED, Schonberger LB. Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in the United States: 1979-1998. JAMA. 2000;284:2322-2323. FREE FULL TEXT

http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/extract/285/6/733?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&fulltext=singeltary&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&resourcetype =HWCIT

JOURNAL OF NEUROLOGY

MARCH 26, 2003

I lost my mother to hvCJD (Heidenhain Variant CJD). I would like to comment on the CDC's attempts to monitor the occurrence of emerging forms of CJD. Asante, Collinge et al [1] have reported that BSE transmission to the 129-methionine genotype can lead to an alternate phenotype that is indistinguishable from type 2 PrPSc, the commonest sporadic CJD. However, CJD and all human TSEs are not reportable nationally. CJD and all human TSEs must be made reportable in every state and internationally. I hope that the CDC does not continue to expect us to still believe that the 85%+ of all CJD cases which are sporadic are all spontaneous, without route/source. We have many TSEs in the USA in both animal and man. CWD in deer/elk is spreading rapidly and CWD does transmit to mink, ferret, cattle, and squirrel monkey by intracerebral inoculation. With the known incubation periods in other TSEs, oral transmission studies of CWD may take much longer. Every victim/family of CJD/TSEs should be asked about route and source of this agent. To prolong this will only spread the agent and needlessly expose others. In light of the findings of Asante and Collinge et al, there should be drastic measures to safeguard the medical and surgical arena from sporadic CJDs and all human TSEs. I only ponder how many sporadic CJDs in the USA are type 2 PrPSc?

http://www.neurology.org/cgi/eletters/60/2/176#535

THE PATHOLOGICAL PROTEIN Hardcover, 304 pages plus photos and illustrations. ISBN 0-387-95508-9

June 2003

BY Philip Yam

CHAPTER 14 LAYING ODDS

Answering critics like Terry Singeltary, who feels that the U.S. under- counts CJD, Schonberger conceded that the current surveillance system has errors but stated that most of the errors will be confined to the older population.

http://www.thepathologicalprotein.com/

*Acquired in UK ** Acquired in Saudi Arabia *** Includes 17 inconclusive and 9 pending (1 from 2006, 8 from 2007. **** Includes 17 non-vCJD type unknown (2 from 1996, 2 from 1997, 1 from 2001, 1 from 2003, 4 from 2004, 3 from 2005, 4 from 2006) and 36 type pending (2 from 2005, 8 from 2006, 26 from 2007).

Notes:

-- Cases are listed based on the year of death when available. If the year of death is not available, the year of sample receipt is used.

-- Referrals: Cases with possible or probable prion disease from which brain tissue or blood in the case of familial disease were submitted.

-- Inconclusive: Cases in which the samples were not sufficient to make a diagnosis.

-- Non-vCJD type unknown are cases in which the tissue submitted was adequate to establish the presence but not the type; in all cases, vCJD could be excluded.

-- Communicated by: Terry S. Singeltary Sr. <flounder9@verizon.net>

[In submitting these data, Terry S. Singeltary Sr. draws attention to the steady increase in the "type unknown" category, which, according to their definition, comprises cases in which vCJD could be excluded. The total of 26 cases for the current year (2007) is disturbing, possibly symptomatic of the circulation of novel agents. Characterization of these agents should be given a high priority. - Mod.CP]

http://www.promedmail.org/pls/askus/f?p=2400:1001:6833194127530602005::NO::F2400_P1001_BACK_PAGE,F2400_P1001_PUB_MAIL_ID:1010,39963

There is a growing number of human CJD cases, and they were presented last week in San Francisco by Luigi Gambatti(?) from his CJD surveillance collection.

He estimates that it may be up to 14 or 15 persons which display selectively SPRPSC and practically no detected RPRPSC proteins.

http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/ac/06/transcripts/1006-4240t1.htm

http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/ac/06/transcripts/2006-4240t1.pdf

Regarding Alzheimer's disease

(note the substantial increase on a yearly basis)

http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/yb/1988/07/08014001.pdf

The pathogenesis of these diseases was compared to Alzheimer's disease at a molecular level...

http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/yb/1990/03/12003001.pdf

And NONE of this is relevant to BSE?

There is also the matter whether the spectrum of ''prion disease'' is wider than that recognized at present.

http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/yb/1990/07/06005001.pdf

Human BSE

These are not relevant to any possible human hazard from BSE nor to the much more common dementia, Alzheimers.

http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/yb/1990/07/09001001.pdf

IN STRICT CONFIDENCE

TRANSMISSION OF ALZHEIMER-TYPE PLAQUES TO PRIMATES

http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/yb/1993/01/05004001.pdf

From: TSS Subject: CJD or Alzheimer's, THE PA STUDY...full text Date: May 7, 2001 at 10:24 am PST

Diagnosis of dementia: Clinicopathologic correlations

Francois Boller, MD, PhD; Oscar L. Lopez, MD; and John Moossy, MD

Article abstract--Based on 54 demented patients consecutively autopsied at the University of Pittsburgh, we studied the accuracy of clinicians in predicting the pathologic diagnosis. Thirty-nine patients (72.2%) had Alzheimer's disease, while 15 (27.7%) had other CNS diseases (four multi-infarct dementia; three Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease; two thalamic and subcortical gliosis; three Parkinson's disease; one progressive supranuclear palsy; one Huntington's disease; and one unclassified). Two neurologists independently reviewed the clinical records of each patient without knowledge of the patient's identity or clinical or pathologic diagnoses; each clinician reached a clinical diagnosis based on criteria derived from those of the NINCDS/ADRDA. In 34 (63 %) cases both clinicians were correct, in nine (17%) one was correct, and in 11 (20%) neither was correct. These results show that in patients with a clinical diagnosis of dementia, the etiology cannot be accurately predicted during life.

NEUROLOGY 1989;39:76-79

Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Boller, Department of Neurology, 322 Scaife Hall, University of Pittsburgh Medical School, Pittsburgh, PA 15261.

January 1989 NEUROLOGY 39 79

snip...

From: TSS (216-119-130-151.ipset10.wt.net) Subject: Evaluation of Cerebral Biopsies for the Diagnosis of Dementia Date: May 8, 2001 at 6:27 pm PST

Subject: Evaluation of Cerebral Biopsies for the Diagnosis of Dementia Date: Tue, 8 May 2001 21:09:43 -0700 From: "Terry S. Singeltary Sr." Reply-To: Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy To: BSE-L@uni-karlsruhe.de

#### Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy ####

Evaluation of Cerebral Biopsies for the Diagnosis of Dementia

Christine M. Hulette, MD; Nancy L. Earl, Md; Barbara J. Crain, MD, Phd

To identify those patients most likely to benefit from a cerebral biopsy to diagnose dementia, we reviewed a series of 14 unselected biopsies performed during a 9-year period (1980 through 1989) at Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC. Pathognomonic features allowed a definitive diagnosis in seven specimens. Nondiagnostic abnormalities but not diagnostic neuropathologic changes were seen in five additional specimens, and two specimens were normal. Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease was the most frequent diagnosis. One patient each was diagnosed as having Alzheimer's disease, diffuse Lewy body disease, adult-onset Niemann-Pick disease, and anaplastic astrocytoma. We conclude that a substantial proportion of patients presenting clinically with atypical dementia are likely to receive a definitive diagnosis from a cerebral biopsy. However, in those with coexisting hemiparesis, chorea, athetosis, or lower motor neuron signs, cerebral biopsies are less likely to be diagnostic. (Arch Neurol. 1992;49:28-31)

"Dementia" is a syndrome characterized by global deterioration of cognitive abilities and is the general term used to describe the symptom complex of intellectual deterioration in the adult. It is associated with multiple causes, although Alzheimer's disease (AD) alone accounts for approximately 60% of cases.1-3...

snip...

Subject: Re: Hello Dr. Manuelidis Date: Fri, 22 Dec 2000 17:47:09 -0500 From: laura manuelidis Reply-To: laura.manuelidis@yale.edu Organization: Yale Medical School To: "Terry S. Singeltary Sr."

References: <39B5561A.87B84A28@wt.net> <39B64574.A4835745@yale.edu> <39B680D8.3872535B@wt.net> <39B66EF1.4CE25685@yale.edu> <39BBB812.425109F@wt.net> <39BE84CB.D7C0C16B@yale.edu> <3A3BA197.7F60D376@wt.net>

Dear Terry,

One of our papers (in Alzheimer's Disease Related Disord. 3:100-109, 1989) in text cites 6 of 46 (13%) of clinical AD as CJD. There may be a later paper from another lab showing the same higher than expected incidence but I can't put my hands on it right now. We also have a lot of papers from 1985 on stating that there are likely many silent (non-clinical) CJD infections, i.e. much greater than the "tip of the iceberg" of long standing end-stage cases with clinical symptoms. Hope this helps.

best wishes for the new year laura manuelidis

end...

======================= *********2008************* =======================

please see full text ;

Alzheimer's and CJD

http://betaamyloidcjd.blogspot.com/

Saturday, March 22, 2008

10 Million Baby Boomers to have Alzheimer's in the coming decades 2008 Alzheimer’s disease facts and figures

http://betaamyloidcjd.blogspot.com/2008/03/association-between-deposition-of-beta.html

Terry S. Singeltary Sr.
P.O. Box 42 Baycliff,
Texas USA 77518