Cellular distribution of the prion protein in palatine tonsils of mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) and Rocky Mountain elk (Cervus elaphusnelsoni)

摘要

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) that affects members of the Cervidae family, including deer ( spp.), elk( spp.), and moose ( spp.). While CWD is a neurodegenerative disease, lymphoid accumulation of the abnormal isoform of theprion protein (PrP ) is detectable early in the course of infection. It has been shown that a large portion of the PrP lymphoid accumulation in infected mule deertakes place on the surface of follicular dendritic cells (FDCs). In mice, FDC expression of PrP has been shown to be essential for PrP accumulation. FDCs have beenshown to normally express high levels of PrP in mice and humans but this has not been examined in natural hosts for CWD. We used double immunofluorescent labeling and confocalmicroscopy to determine the PrP expression characteristics of B and T lymphocytes as well as FDCs in palatine tonsils of CWD-negative mule deer and elk. We detected substantialPrP colocalization with all cellular phenotypic markers used in this study, not just with FDC phenotypic markers.