title: Inactivation of prions by acidic sodium dodecyl sulfate.
abstract: Prompted by the discovery that prions become protease-sensitive after exposure to branched polyamine dendrimers in acetic acid (AcOH) (S. Supattapone, H. Wille, L. Uyechi, J. Safar, P. Tremblay, F. C. Szoka, F. E. Cohen, S. B. Prusiner, and M. R. Scott, J. Virol. 75:3453-3461, 2001), we investigated the inactivation of prions by sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) in weak acid. As judged by sensitivity to proteolytic digestion, the disease-causing prion protein (PrPSc) was denatured at room temperature by SDS at pH values of < or =4.5 or > or =10. Exposure of Sc237 prions in Syrian hamster brain homogenates to 1% SDS and 0.5% AcOH at room temperature resulted in a reduction of prion titer by a factor of ca. 10(7); however, all of the bioassay hamsters eventually developed prion disease. When various concentrations of SDS and AcOH were tested, the duration and temperature of exposure acted synergistically to inactivate both hamster Sc237 prions and human sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (sCJD) prions. The inactivation of prions in brain homogenates and those bound to stainless steel wires was evaluated by using bioassays in transgenic mice. sCJD prions were more than 100,000 times more resistant to inactivation than Sc237 prions, demonstrating that inactivation procedures validated on rodent prions cannot be extrapolated to inactivation of human prions. Some procedures that significantly reduced prion titers in brain homogenates had a limited effect on prions bound to the surface of stainless steel wires. Using acidic SDS combined with autoclaving for 15 min, human sCJD prions bound to stainless steel wires were eliminated. Our findings form the basis for a noncorrosive system that is suitable for inactivating prions on surgical instruments, as well as on other medical and dental equipment.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases, 513 Parnassus Ave., HSE-774, San Francisco, CA 94143-0518, USA.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Peretz
authors.forename: Surachai
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Supattapone
authors.forename: Kurt
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Giles
authors.forename: Julie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Vergara
authors.forename: Yevgeniy
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Freyman
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lessard
authors.forename: Jiri G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Safar
authors.forename: David V
authors.initials: DV
authors.lastname: Glidden
authors.forename: Charles
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: McCulloch
authors.forename: Hoang-Oanh B
authors.initials: HO
authors.lastname: Nguyen
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Scott
authors.forename: Stephen J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Dearmond
authors.forename: Stanley B
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Prusiner
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006224:Cricetinae; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D018620:PrPSc Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D017096:Prion Diseases; D011328:Prions / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D012967:Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D018620:PrPSc Proteins; D011328:Prions; D012967:Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate