Scrapie strains maintain biological phenotypes on propagation in a cell line in culture.
Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and its human equivalent, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD), are caused by the same strain of infectious agent, which is similar to, but distinct from, >20 strains of their sheep scrapie homologue. A better understanding of the molecular strain determinants could be obtained from cells in monoculture than from whole animal studies where different cell targeting is commonly a strain-related feature. Although a few cell types can be infected with different strains, the phenotypes of the emergent strains have not been studied. We have cured the scrapie-infected, clonal SMB cell line with pentosan sulfate, stably re-infected it with a different strain of scrapie and shown that biological properties and prion protein profiles characteristic of each original strain are propagated faithfully in this single non-neuronal cell type. These findings attest to the fact that scrapie strain determinants are stable and host-independent in isolated cells.
Birkett
C R
CR
Institute for Animal Health, Compton Laboratory, Compton, Newbury, RG20 7NN, UK. chris.birkett@bbsrc.ac.uk
Hennion
R M
RM
Bembridge
D A
DA
Clarke
M C
MC
Chree
A
A
Bruce
M E
ME
Bostock
C J
CJ
D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism; D002417:Cattle; D002460:Cell Line; D007562:Creutzfeldt-Jakob Syndrome / Q000209:etiology; D016643:Encephalopathy, Bovine Spongiform / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D010641:Phenotype; D018620:PrPSc Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics*; D020033:Protein Isoforms / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D012608:Scrapie / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology
D018620:PrPSc Proteins; D020033:Protein Isoforms