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The same prion strain causes vCJD and BSE

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Abstract

Epidemiological and clinicopathological studies, allied with pathological prion protein (PrPSc) analysis, strongly support the hypothesis that the human prion disease new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) is causally related to bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE)1,2, but considerable controversy remains. Distinct prion strains are distinguished by their biological properties on transmission to laboratory animals and by physical and chemical differences in PrPSc strains. We now find that the biological and molecular transmission characteristics of vCJD are consistent with it being the human counterpart of BSE.

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Figure 1: Transmission of prion diseases to mice.
Figure 2: Transmission of prion diseases to mice.
Figure 3: Transmission of prion diseases to mice.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Prion Disease Group, Neurogenetics Unit, Imperial College School of Medicine at St Marys, London, W2 1PG, UK

    Andrew F. Hill, Melanie Desbruslais, Susan Joiner, Katie C. L. Sidle & Ian Gowland

  2. Department of Neurology, St Mary's Hospital, London, W2 1NY, UK

    John Collinge

  3. Department of Neuropathology, Institute of Psychiatry, London, SE5 8AF, UK

    Lawrence J. Doey & Peter Lantos

  4. To whom correspondence should be addressed at the Prion Disease Group,

    John Collinge

Authors
  1. Andrew F. Hill
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  2. Melanie Desbruslais
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  3. Susan Joiner
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  4. Katie C. L. Sidle
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  5. Ian Gowland
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  6. John Collinge
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  7. Lawrence J. Doey
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  8. Peter Lantos
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Hill, A., Desbruslais, M., Joiner, S. et al. The same prion strain causes vCJD and BSE. Nature 389, 448–450 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1038/38925

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