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For 20 years, the multidisciplinary "Prion" task force, created when with the "crazy cow crisis", has been studying a non conventionnal pathogen - the prion - which is able to cross over the species barriers and infect man. Studies by these scientists have contributed to decreasing the risk for both human and animal health. They received the INRA 2018 award for the impact of their studies on agronomy research.

Unthinkable! That is what the situation seemed like in March 1996 when the "crazy cow" crisis broadcasts to the public that an animal disease, even if its occurence is rare, can contaminate man through meat consumption. The pathogen of this bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) causes a rare and incurable disease in humans, which is a variant of the Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease (VMCJ) known since the 1920s. More than 12 000 monthly bovine cases are declared at the height of the epidemic in the United Kingdom, which was by far the country affected the most. The economic consequences can be felt : slaughtering of herds, a European embargo on British beef .... combined with a lasting distrust of consumers for the food industry and questionning of the European health safety. The crossing of the species barrier spreads the suspicion to other sheep and goat EST. Scientists are faced with many questions : what is this new pathogen, neither a parasite nor a microorganism? A protein named the "prion" naturally present in man and mammals and that just by changing its structure can become a pathogen and contaminate many of its neighbors...But how? At what speed ? What are the mechanisms? How do we prevent these diseases?

Everyone felt that "and still today, no hypothesis can be removed à priori when working on the prion" recalls Human Rezaei. Henceforth, the INRA task force set out to eradicate the disease from farms and to decrease the risk for man, both in terms of an association with food as well as for medical acts. Six million euros from public and private funds were invested in this research, allowing a whole generation of scientists to be trained and acquire an internationally reknowned expertise on prions.

Our scientists, specialists of the prion are currently focusing their work on the study of emerging transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, on other prion disease (prion diseases like Alzeheimer and Parkinson) and on the role of the normal prion protein which remains an enigma. These missions require consequent investments in order to train a new generation of scientists capable of carrying on long-term studies. Indeed, 10 years can go by before an article may be published since experiments on these diseases with 50-year incubation periods require time!

Contact(s)

• Associated divisions: Santé animale, Physiologie animale et systèmes d’élevage, Génétique animale, Alimentation humaine
• Associated research centers: Val de Loire, Occitanie-Toulouse, Jouy-en-Josas, Auvergne - Rhône-Alpes