Complete Freund's adjuvant immunization prolongs survival in experimental prion disease in mice.
We recently reported that immunization of mice with certain self-prion protein peptides induced specific T-cell and B-cell immune responses; importantly, this immunization was associated with a decrease in the number of protease-resistant PrP(Sc) particles recoverable in a transplanted, scrapie-infected syngeneic tumor. The present study was carried out to determine whether immunization with the immunogenic PrP peptides might influence the natural history of experimental scrapie in mice. We immunized C57BL/6 mice with self-prion peptides in complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA) or with CFA alone as a control and then infected the mice with mouse-adapted scrapie by injection either intraperitoneally or intracerebrally. We report here that immunization with CFA, irrespective of whether prion peptides were present in the inoculum, resulted in marked prolongation of survival of the mice, whether the challenge was intracerebral or intraperitoneal. Mice in the immunized and control groups that died contained equivalent amounts of PrP(Sc). Thus, CFA immunization has a therapeutic effect in experimental scrapie in mice, possibly by reducing the rate of PrP(Sc) accumulation in the brain.
Tal
Yuval
Y
Department of Molecular Biology, Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem, Israel.
Souan
Lina
L
Cohen
Irun R
IR
Meiner
Zeev
Z
Taraboulos
Albert
A
Mor
Felix
F
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D015153:Blotting, Western; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005260:Female; D005620:Freund's Adjuvant / Q000276:immunology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D007114:Immunization; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000276:immunology / Q000494:pharmacology; D018620:PrPSc Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D017096:Prion Diseases / Q000276:immunology / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D011328:Prions / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D020033:Protein Isoforms / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D012608:Scrapie / Q000378:metabolism; D015996:Survival Rate; D013997:Time Factors
D010446:Peptide Fragments; D018620:PrPSc Proteins; D011328:Prions; D020033:Protein Isoforms; D005620:Freund's Adjuvant