Sheep and Goat BSE Propagate More Efficiently than Cattle BSE in Human PrP Transgenic Mice

A new variant of Creutzfeldt Jacob Disease (vCJD) was identified in humans and linked to the consumption of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE)-infected meat products. Recycling of ruminant tissue in meat and bone meal (MBM) has been proposed as origin of the BSE epidemic. During this epidemic, sheep and goats have been exposed to BSE-contaminated MBM. It is well known that sheep can be experimentally infected with BSE and two field BSE-like cases have been reported in goats. In this work we evaluated the human susceptibility to small ruminants-passaged BSE prions by inoculating two different transgenic mouse lines expressing the methionine (Met) allele of human PrP at codon 129 (tg650 and tg340) with several sheep and goat BSE isolates and compared their transmission characteristics with those of cattle BSE. While the molecular and neuropathological transmission features were undistinguishable and similar to those obtained after transmission of vCJD in both transgenic mouse lines, sheep and goat BSE isolates showed higher transmission efficiency on serial passaging compared to cattle BSE. We found that this higher transmission efficiency was strongly influenced by the ovine PrP sequence, rather than by other host species-specific factors. Although extrapolation of results from prion transmission studies by using transgenic mice has to be done very carefully, especially when human susceptibility to prions is analyzed, our results clearly indicate that Met129 homozygous individuals might be susceptible to a sheep or goat BSE agent at a higher degree than to cattle BSE, and that these agents might transmit with molecular and neuropathological properties indistinguishable from those of vCJD. Our results suggest that the possibility of a small ruminant BSE prion as vCJD causal agent could not be ruled out, and that the risk for humans of a potential goat and/or sheep BSE agent should not be underestimated

The Physical Relationship between Infectivity and Prion Protein Aggregates Is Strain-Dependent

Prions are unconventional infectious agents thought to be primarily composed of PrPSc, a multimeric misfolded conformer of the ubiquitously expressed host-encoded prion protein (PrPC). They cause fatal neurodegenerative diseases in both animals and humans. The disease phenotype is not uniform within species, and stable, self-propagating variations in PrPSc conformation could encode this ‘strain’ diversity. However, much remains to be learned about the physical relationship between the infectious agent and PrPSc aggregation state, and how this varies according to the strain. We applied a sedimentation velocity technique to a panel of natural, biologically cloned strains obtained by propagation of classical and atypical sheep scrapie and BSE infectious sources in transgenic mice expressing ovine PrP. Detergent-solubilized, infected brain homogenates were used as starting material. Solubilization conditions were optimized to separate PrPSc aggregates from PrPC. The distribution of PrPSc and infectivity in the gradient was determined by immunoblotting and mouse bioassay, respectively. As a general feature, a major proteinase K-resistant PrPSc peak was observed in the middle part of the gradient. This population approximately corresponds to multimers of 12–30 PrP molecules, if constituted of PrP only. For two strains, infectivity peaked in a markedly different region of the gradient. This most infectious component sedimented very slowly, suggesting small size oligomers and/or low density PrPSc aggregates. Extending this study to hamster prions passaged in hamster PrP transgenic mice revealed that the highly infectious, slowly sedimenting particles could be a feature of strains able to induce a rapidly lethal disease. Our findings suggest that prion infectious particles are subjected to marked strain-dependent variations, which in turn could influence the strain biological phenotype, in particular the replication dynamics

Maurocalcine-derivatives as biotechnological tools for the penetration of cell-impermeable compounds: Technological value of a scorpion toxin

Maurocalcine is a unique toxin in that its natural pharmacological target in vivo, the ryanodine receptor, is localized inside cells and not at the cell surface as commonly observed for most toxins. According to the membrane topology of the ryanodine receptor, the binding site of maurocalcine is localized within the cytoplasm. Application of maurocalcine to myotubes in culture induces calcium release via the ryanodine receptor within seconds indicating that the peptide reaches its binding site via a rapid and efficient diffusion through the plasma membrane. Analysis of the maurocalcine amino-acid sequence indicates that it is a heavily positively charged peptide, a property shared with many cell-penetrating peptides. A closer examination of the 3D structure of maurocalcine further illustrates that most of its positively charged residues are located on one face of the molecule according to a distribution that resembles that seen in Tat and penetratin, two cell penetrating peptides. Along with its unique cell penetrating properties, maurocalcine has also the ability to act as a vector for the intracellular delivery of various many cargo molecules or nanoobjects. Many key cell penetration properties of maurocalcine have been defined using a biotinylated version of the peptide that was coupled to a fluorescent streptavidin. Various structure-function strategies have been developed to isolate new maurocalcine analogues presenting the characteristic cell penetration properties without the undesired pharmacological activity. Examples of research and technological applications will be presented in which maurocalcine may prove a powerful delivery vector. By its amazing diversity of potential applications, this peptide opens a new trend of research in the toxin field

Using 31P-MRI of hydroxyapatite for bone attenuation correction in PET-MRI: proof of concept in the rodent brain

Abstract Background The correction of γ-photon attenuation in PET-MRI remains a critical issue, especially for bone attenuation. This problem is of great importance for brain studies due to the density of the skull. Current techniques for skull attenuation correction (AC) provide indirect estimates of cortical bone density, leading to inaccurate estimates of brain activity. The purpose of this study was to develop an alternate method for bone attenuation correction based on NMR. The proposed approach relies on the detection of hydroxyapatite crystals by zero echo time (ZTE) MRI of 31P, providing individual and quantitative assessment of bone density. This work presents a proof of concept of this approach. The first step of the method is a calibration experiment to determine the conversion relationship between the 31P signal and the linear attenuation coefficient μ. Then 31P-ZTE was performed in vivo in rodent to estimate the μ-map of the skull. 18F-FDG PET data were acquired in the same animal and reconstructed with three different AC methods: 31P-based AC, AC neglecting the bone and the gold standard, CT-based AC, used to comparison for the other two methods. Results The calibration experiment provided a conversion factor of 31P signal into μ. In vivo 31P-ZTE made it possible to acquire 3D images of the rat skull. Brain PET images showed underestimation of 18F activity in peripheral regions close to the skull when AC neglected the bone (as compared with CT-based AC). The use of 31P-derived μ-map for AC leads to increased peripheral activity, and therefore a global overestimation of brain 18F activity. Conclusions In vivo 31P-ZTE MRI of hydroxyapatite provides μ-map of the skull, which can be used for attenuation correction of 18F-FDG PET images. This study is limited by several intrinsic biases associated with the size of the rat brain, which are unlikely to affect human data on a clinical PET-MRI system

Endogenous prion protein conversion is required for prion-induced neuritic alterations and neuronal death

International audiencePrions cause fatal neurodegenerative conditions and result from the conversion of host-encoded cellular prion protein (PrPC) into abnormally folded scrapie PrP (PrPSc). Prions can propagate both in neurons and astrocytes, yet neurotoxicity mechanisms remain unclear. Recently, PrPC was proposed to mediate neurotoxic signaling of beta-sheet-rich PrP and non-PrP conformers independently of conversion. To investigate the role of astrocytes and neuronal PrPC in prion-induced neurodegeneration, we set up neuron and astrocyte primary cocultures derived from PrP transgenic mice. In this system, prion-infected astrocytes delivered ovine PrPSc to neurons lacking PrPC (prion-resistant), or expressing a PrPC convertible (sheep) or not (mouse, human). We show that interaction between neuronal PrPC and exogenous PrPSc was not sufficient to induce neuronal death but that efficient PrPC conversion was required for prion-associated neurotoxicity. Prion-infected astrocytes markedly accelerated neurodegeneration in homologous cocultures compared to infected single neuronal cultures, despite no detectable neurotoxin release. Finally, PrPSc accumulation in neurons led to neuritic damages and cell death, both potentiated by glutamate and reactive oxygen species. Thus, conversion of neuronal PrPC rather than PrPC-mediated neurotoxic signaling appears as the main culprit in prion-induced neurodegeneration. We suggest that active prion replication in neurons sensitizes them to environmental stress regulated by neighboring cells, including astrocytes.-Cronier, S., Carimalo, J., Schaeffer, B., Jaumain, E., Beringue, V., Miquel, M.-C., Laude, H., Peyrin, J.-M. Endogenous prion protein conversion is required for prion-induced neuritic alterations and neuronal death. FASEB J. 26, 3854-3861 (2012). www.fasebj.or

Integrity of helix 2-helix 3 domain of the PrP protein is not mandatory for prion replication

The process of prion conversion is not yet well understood at the molecular level. The regions critical for the conformational change of PrP remain mostly debated and the extent of sequence change acceptable for prion conversion is poorly documented. To achieve progress on these issues, we applied a reverse genetic approach using the Rov cell system. This allowed us to test the susceptibility of a number of insertion mutants to conversion into prion in the absence of wild-type PrP molecules. We were able to propagate several prions with 8 to 16 extra amino acids, including a polyglycine stretch and His or FLAG tags, inserted in the middle of the protease-resistant fragment. These results demonstrate the possibility to increase the length of the loop between helices H2 and H3 up to 4-fold, without preventing prion replication. They also indicate that this loop probably remains unstructured in PrP(Sc). We also showed that bona fide prions can be produced following insertion of octapeptides in the two C-terminal turns of H2. These insertions do not interfere with the overall fold of the H2-H3 domain indicating that the highly conserved sequence of the terminal part of H2 is not critical for the conversion. Altogether these data showed that the amplitude of modifications acceptable for prion conversion in the core of the globular domain of PrP is much greater than one might have assumed. These observations should help to refine structural models of PrP(Sc) and elucidate the conformational changes underlying prions generation

Absence of evidence for a causal link between bovine spongiform encephalopathy strain variant L-BSE and known forms of sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in human PrP transgenic mice

Prions are proteinaceous pathogens responsible for subacute spongiform encephalopathies in animals and humans. The prions responsible for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) are zoonotic agents, causing variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) in humans. The transfer of prions between species is limited by a species barrier, which is thought to reflect structural incompatibilities between the host cellular prion protein (PrPC) and the infecting pathological PrP assemblies (PrPSc) constituting the prion. A BSE strain variant, designated L-BSE and responsible for atypical, supposedly spontaneous forms of prion diseases in aged cattle, demonstrates zoonotic potential, as evidenced by its capacity to propagate more easily than classical BSE in transgenic mice expressing human PrPC and in nonhuman primates. In humanized mice, L-BSE propagates without any apparent species barrier and shares similar biochemical PrPSc signatures with the CJD subtype designated MM2-cortical, thus opening the possibility that certain CJD cases classified as sporadic may actually originate from L-type BSE cross-transmission. To address this issue, we compared the biological properties of L-BSE and those of a panel of CJD subtypes representative of the human prion strain diversity using standard strain-typing criteria in human PrP transgenic mice. We found no evidence that L-BSE causes a known form of sporadic CJD. IMPORTANCE Since the quasi-extinction of classical BSE, atypical BSE forms are the sole BSE variants circulating in cattle worldwide. They are observed in rare cases of old cattle, making them difficult to detect. Extrapolation of our results suggests that L-BSE may propagate in humans as an unrecognized form of CJD, and we urge both the continued utilization of precautionary measures to eliminate these agents from the human food chain and active surveillance for CJD phenotypes in the general population