Monoclonal antibody against a peptide of human prion protein discriminates between Creutzfeldt-Jacob's disease-affected and normal brain tissue.
Current methods for diagnosing transmissible spongiform encephalopathies rely on the degradation of the cellular prion protein (PrP(C)) and the subsequent detection of the protease-resistant remnant of the pathological prion isoform PrP(Sc) by antibodies that react with all forms of PrP. We report on a monoclonal antibody, V5B2, raised against a peptide from the C-terminal part of PrP, which recognizes an epitope specific to PrP(Sc). In cryostat sections from Creutzfeldt-Jacob's disease (CJD) patients' brains, V5B2 selectively labels various deposits of PrP(Sc) without any pretreatment for removal of PrP(C). V5B2 does not bind to non-CJD brain samples or to recombinant PrP, either in its native or denatured form. Specificity for PrP is confirmed by a sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay utilizing V5B2, which discriminates between CJD and normal samples without proteinase K treatment, and by immunoprecipitation from CJD brain homogenate. The PrP(Sc)-specific epitope is disrupted by denaturation. We conclude that the C-terminal part of PrP in disease-associated PrP(Sc) aggregates forms a structural epitope whose conformation is distinct from that of PrP(C).
Blood Transfusion Center of Slovenia, Slajmerjeva 6, Ljubljana, Slovenia. vladka.curtin@ztm.si
Vladka
V
Curin Serbec
Mara
M
Bresjanac
Mara
M
Popovic
Katrina
K
Pretnar Hartman
Vesna
V
Galvani
Ruth
R
Rupreht
Maja
M
Cernilec
Tanja
T
Vranac
Iva
I
Hafner
Roman
R
Jerala
D000818:Animals; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000737:chemistry*; D015153:Blotting, Western; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism; D007562:Creutzfeldt-Jakob Syndrome / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D019286:Endopeptidase K / Q000494:pharmacology; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D000939:Epitopes / Q000737:chemistry; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D010455:Peptides / Q000737:chemistry*; D018621:PrPC Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology*; D011233:Precipitin Tests; D011487:Protein Conformation; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism
D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D000939:Epitopes; D010455:Peptides; D018621:PrPC Proteins; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D019286:Endopeptidase K