title: Cultured peripheral neuroglial cells are highly permissive to sheep prion infection.
abstract: Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies arise as a consequence of infection of the central nervous system (CNS) by prions. Spreading of the infectious agent through the peripheral nervous system (PNS) may represent a crucial step toward CNS neuroinvasion, but the modalities of this process have yet to be clarified. Here we provide further evidence that PNS glial cells are likely targets for infection by prions. Glial cell clones originating from dorsal root ganglia of transgenic mice expressing ovine PrP (tgOv) and simian virus 40 T antigen were found to be readily infectible by sheep scrapie agent. This led us to establish two stable cell lines that exhibited features of Schwann cells. These cells were shown to sustain an efficient and stable replication of sheep prion based on the high level of accumulation of abnormal PrP and infectivity in exposed cultures. We also provide evidence for abnormal PrP deposition in peripheral neuroglial cells from scrapie-infected tgOv mice and sheep. These findings have potential implications in terms of designing new cell systems permissive to prions and of peripheral pathobiology of prion infections.
authors.affiliation: Unité de Virologie Immunologie Moléculaires, INRA, Jouy-en-Josas, France.
authors.forename: Fabienne
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Archer
authors.forename: Corinne
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bachelin
authors.forename: Olivier
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Andreoletti
authors.forename: Nathalie
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Besnard
authors.forename: Gregory
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Perrot
authors.forename: Christelle
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Langevin
authors.forename: Annick
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Le Dur
authors.forename: Didier
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Vilette
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Baron-Van Evercooren
authors.forename: Jean-Luc
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Vilotte
authors.forename: Hubert
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Laude
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D005260:Female; D005727:Ganglia, Spinal / Q000166:cytology; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D009457:Neuroglia / Q000378:metabolism*; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism; D017933:Peripheral Nervous System / Q000378:metabolism; D018621:PrPC Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D018620:PrPSc Proteins / Q000378:metabolism / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D012583:Schwann Cells / Q000378:metabolism; D012608:Scrapie; D012756:Sheep
chemical_list: D018621:PrPC Proteins; D018620:PrPSc Proteins