Barria, Marcelo A.Balachandran, AruMorita, MasanoriKitamoto, TetsuyukiBarron, RonaManson, JeanKnight, RichardIronside, James W.Head, Mark W.2022-12-192022-12-192014-01Barria, M.A., Balachandran, A., Morita, M., Kitamoto, T., Barron, R., Manson, J., Knight, R., Ironside, J.W. and Head, M.W. (2014) ‘Molecular barriers to zoonotic transmission of prions’, Emerging Infectious Diseases, 20(1), pp. 88–97. Available at: https://doi.org/10.3201/eid2001.130858.1080-60401080-6059https://eresearch.qmu.ac.uk/handle/20.500.12289/12704https://doi.org/10.3201%2Feid2001.130858Ron Barron - ORCID: 0000-0003-4512-9177 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4512-9177The risks posed to human health by individual animal prion diseases cannot be determined a priori and are difficult to address empirically. The fundamental event in prion disease pathogenesis is thought to be the seeded conversion of normal prion protein to its pathologic isoform. We used a rapid molecular conversion assay (protein misfolding cyclic amplification) to test whether brain homogenates from specimens of classical bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), atypical BSE (H-type BSE and L-type BSE), classical scrapie, atypical scrapie, and chronic wasting disease can convert normal human prion protein to the abnormal disease-associated form. None of the tested prion isolates from diseased animals were as efficient as classical BSE in converting human prion protein. However, in the case of chronic wasting disease, there was no absolute barrier to conversion of the human prion protein.88–97en-USThis is a publication of the U.S. Government. This publication is in the public domain and is therefore without copyright. All text from this work may be reprinted freely. Use of these materials should be properly cited.Article