Understanding the distribution of susceptible Prnp variants and determining factors influencing spatial genetic patterns are important components of many chronic wasting disease mitigation strategies.
The prion protein (PrP) is a cell surface protein that in disease misfolds and becomes infectious causing Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans, scrapie in sheep, and chronic wasting disease in deer and elk.
Recombinant prion protein vaccination of transgenic elk PrP mice and reindeer overcomes self-tolerance and protects mice against chronic wasting disease.
Influence of the geographic distribution of prion protein gene sequence variation on patterns of chronic wasting disease spread in white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus).
Immunization of cervidized transgenic mice with multimeric deer prion protein induces self-antibodies that antagonize chronic wasting disease infectivity in vitro.
Chronic wasting disease and atypical forms of bovine spongiform encephalopathy and scrapie are not transmissible to mice expressing wild-type levels of human prion protein.