A study using human cerebral organoids found that chronic wasting disease (CWD) is unlikely to transmit from deer, elk, and moose to humans, reinforcing the strong species barrier observed in earlier research. A recent study employing a human cerebral organoid model to investigate prion diseases indicates a significant species barrier that blocks the transmission of chronic wasting disease (CWD) from cervids—such as deer, elk, and moose—to humans. Conducted by scientists at the National Institutes of Health and published in Emerging Infectious Diseases, the study’s results align with many years of similar research conducted at the NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) .
Prion diseases are degenerative diseases found in some mammals. These diseases primarily involve deterioration of the brain but also can affect the eyes and other organs. Disease and death occur when abnormal proteins fold, clump together, recruit other prion proteins to do the same, and eventually destroy the central nervous system.
Currently, there are no preventive or therapeutic treatments for prion diseases. A researcher holds a flask containing human cerebral organoids similar to those used in the CWD study. Credit: NIAID CWD is a type of prion disease found in cervids, which are popular game animals.
While CWD has never been found in people, a question about its transmission potential has lingered for decades: Can people who eat meat from CWD-infected cervids develo.
