Schutz, EkkehardEkkehardSchutzUrnovitz, Howard B.Howard B.UrnovitzIakoubov, L.L.IakoubovSchulz-Schaeffer, Walter J.Walter J.Schulz-SchaefferWemheuer, W.W.WemheuerBrenig, BertramBertramBrenig2018-11-072018-11-072005https://resolver.sub.uni-goettingen.de/purl?gro-2/23823Circullating nucleic acids (CNA) are known to be enriched in repetitive DNA sequences in humans. Here, bovine sera CNA were analyzed to determine if cell stress-related short interspersed nucleotide elements: (SINEs) could be detected in sera from cattle associated with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE,). Nucleic acids were extracted, amplified, cloned, and sequenced from the sera of protease-resistant prion protein (PrPres)-positive cattle (n = 2) and sera from BSE-cohort cows (n = 6); 150 out of 163 clones revealed the presence of, on average, an 80-bp sequence from the 3' region of Bov-tA SINE. A PCR protocol was developed that differentially identified SINE-associated CNA in BSE-exposed versus normal cattle. CNA were: extracted from a serum vesicular fraction after controlled blood collection and processing procedures. Sera from four confirmed cases of BSE, 137 BSE-exposed cohort animals associated with eight confirmed BSE cases, and 845 healthy, PrPres-negative, control cows were tested. All four sera from confirmed BSE cases were repeatedly reactive in the assay. BSE-exposed cohorts had a 100-fold higher occurrence of repeatedly reactive individuals per cohort (average = 63%; range = 33% to 91%), compared to healthy controls (average = 0.6%; P < 0.001). This study shows that BSE-confirmed and cohort animals possess a unique profile of SINE-associated serum CNA that can be utilized as a marker that highly correlates to BSE exposure.journal_article10.1128/CDLI.12.7.814-820.200516002628000231407600003