| Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy: Is It An Autoimmune Disease Due to Bacteria Showing Molecular Mimicry With Brain Antigens? Alan Ebringer,
1,2
John Pirt,
1
Clyde Wilson,
1
Phil Cunningham,
1
Carlos Thorpe,
1
and Camille Ettelaie
3
1
Division of Life Sciences, Infection and Immunity Group and Department of Computing, King's College, Campden Hill Road, London, United Kingdom
2
Department of Rheumatology, UCH School of Medicine, Middlesex Hospital, London, United Kingdom
3
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine, London, United Kingdom Abstract
Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) could be an autoimmune disease produced following exposure of cattle to feedstuffs containing bacteria showing molecular mimicry between bacterial components and bovine tissue. Analysis of molecular sequence databases (Genbank and SwissProt) shows that three bacteria ( Acinetobacter calcoaceticus , Ruminococcus albus , and Agrobacter tumefaciens ) share sequences with the encephalitogenic peptide of bovine myelin, while three molecules in Escherichia coli show molecular mimicry with host-encoded prion protein. Immune responses against these bacteria at both T and B cell levels may cause neurological tissue injury resembling BSE. The role of these bacteria in BSE, if any, merits further investigation. Key words : autoimmune disease, bovine spongiform encephalopathy, Gram-negative bacteria, molecular mimicry. Environ Health Perspect 105:1172-1174 (1997) .
Address correspondence to A. Ebringer, Division of Life Sciences, Infection & Immunity Group, King's College London, Campden Hill Road, London W8 7AH, U.K. The authors would like to thank the Trustees of the Middlesex Hospital for their support. Received 7 May 1997 ; accepted 21 July 1997.
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