TOKYO, Dec 30: Japanese researchers have discovered a protein closely linked to an abnormal prion that causes mad cow disease and its human variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD), a report said on Sunday.

The discovery was made by professor Morikazu Shinagawa and assistant professor Motohiro Horiuchi at Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine in Hokkaido, northern Japan, the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper said.

The team hopes the discovery of the protein will assist their analysis of the structure of the abnormal prion and that their research could lead to new diagnoses and medical treatment for mad cow disease and vCJD, the top-selling daily said.

Prion is the term used to describe the mysterious infectious agent responsible for several neurodegenerative diseases found in mammals.

Scientists suspect humans contract vCJD by eating beef infected with mad cow disease, also known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).

Mad cow disease was first identified in cattle in Britain in 1986 and was first transmitted to humans around 1996 and vCJD has claimed 99 lives in Britain and three in France.—AFP