The human cerebral and systemic amyloidoses and prionassociated spongiform encephalopathies are acquired or inherited protein folding disorders in which normally soluble proteins or peptides are converted into fibrillar aggregates. This is a nucleation-dependent process that can be initiated or accelerated by fibril seeds formed from homologous or heterologous amyloidogenic precursors that serve as an amyloid enhancing factor (AEF) and has pathogenic significance in that disease may be transmitted by oral ingestion or parenteral administration of these conformationally altered components. Except for infected brain tissue, specific dietary sources of AEF have not been identified. Here we report that commercially available duck-or goose-derived foie gras contains birefringent congophilic fibrillar material composed of serum amyloid A-related protein that acted as a potent AEF in a transgenic murine model of secondary (amyloid A protein) amyloidosis. When such mice were injected with or fed amyloid extracted from foie gras, the animals developed extensive systemic pathological deposits. These experimental data provide evidence that an amyloid-containing food product hastened the development of amyloid protein A amyloidosis in a susceptible population. On this basis, we posit that this and perhaps other forms of amyloidosis may be transmissible, akin to the infectious nature of prion-related illnesses.amyloid protein A amyloidosis ͉ amyloid-enhancing factor ͉ protein aggregation ͉ rheumatoid arthritis ͉ transmissibility A myloid protein A amyloidosis (AA) occurs in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and other chronic inflammatory diseases and results from a sustained elevation of the apolipoprotein serum amyloid A (SAA) protein produced by hepatocytes under regulation by interleukin (IL)-1, IL-6, and tumor necrosis factor (1). This acute-phase reactant is cleaved into an Ϸ76-residue N-terminal fragment deposited as amyloid predominately in the kidneys, liver, and spleen. The disorder also can be induced experimentally in susceptible strains of mice by inflammatory stimuli that result in an Ͼ1,000-fold increase in SAA concentration (2). Further, the lag phase of this process is greatly decreased by injecting or feeding animals extracts of amyloidladen spleens of affected mice (2-5).To determine whether amyloid-containing food products exhibit amyloid enhancing factor (AEF) activity, we used a more robust in vivo murine model of AA amyloidosis involving mice carrying the human IL-6 (hIL-6) gene under control of either the murine metallothionein-1 (MT-1) (MT-1/hIL-6) or histocompatibility H2-L d (H2/hIL-6) promoter (6). Typically, AA amyloid develops in these animals at Ϸ5 mo of age and is initially located predominately in the perifollicular regions of the spleen. Over the next 2-3 mo, the deposits spread rapidly into the liver parenchyma, renal glomerular and intertubular regions, cardiac muscle, tongue, and gastrointestinal tract and lead to death at Ϸ8-9 mo. However, by injection into 8-wk-old transgenic mice of a ...