title: In vitro generation of infectious scrapie prions.
abstract: Prions are unconventional infectious agents responsible for transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) diseases. They are thought to be composed exclusively of the protease-resistant prion protein (PrPres) that replicates in the body by inducing the misfolding of the cellular prion protein (PrPC). Although compelling evidence supports this hypothesis, generation of infectious prion particles in vitro has not been convincingly demonstrated. Here we show that PrPC --> PrPres conversion can be mimicked in vitro by cyclic amplification of protein misfolding, resulting in indefinite amplification of PrPres. The in vitro-generated forms of PrPres share similar biochemical and structural properties with PrPres derived from sick brains. Inoculation of wild-type hamsters with in vitro-produced PrPres led to a scrapie disease identical to the illness produced by brain infectious material. These findings demonstrate that prions can be generated in vitro and provide strong evidence in support of the protein-only hypothesis of prion transmission.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas 77555, USA.
authors.forename: Joaquín
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Castilla
authors.forename: Paula
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Saá
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hetz
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Soto
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism; D006224:Cricetinae; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D008647:Mesocricetus; D018621:PrPC Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*; D017510:Protein Folding; D017433:Protein Structure, Secondary; D012608:Scrapie / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology / Q000635:transmission
chemical_list: D018621:PrPC Proteins