title: SCRG1, a potential marker of autophagy in transmissible spongiform encephalopathies.
abstract: The Scrg1 gene was initially discovered as one of the genes upregulated in transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSE). Scrg1 encodes a highly conserved, cysteine-rich protein expressed principally in the central nervous system. The protein is targeted to the Golgi apparatus and large dense-core vesicles/secretory granules in neurons. We have recently shown that the Scrg1 protein is widely induced in neurons of scrapie-infected mice, suggesting that Scrg1 is involved in the host response to stress and/or the death of neurons. At the ultrastructural level, Scrg1 is associated with dictyosomes of the Golgi apparatus and autophagic vacuoles of degenerative neurons. It is well known that apoptosis plays a major role in the events leading to neuronal cell death in TSE. However, autophagy was identified in experimentally induced scrapie a long time ago and was recently reevaluated as a possible cell death program in prion diseases. The consistent association of Scrg1 with autophagic structures typical of scrapie is in agreement with the recruitment of Golgi-specific proteins in this degradation process and we suggest that Scrg1 might be used as a specific probe to identify neuronal autophagy in TSE.
authors.affiliation: CNRS UPR-9045, Laboratoire d'Oncologie Virale, Villejuif, France.
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dron
authors.forename: Yannick
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Bailly
authors.forename: Vincent
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Beringue
authors.forename: Anne-Marie
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Haeberlé
authors.forename: Bernadette
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Griffond
authors.forename: Pierre-Yves
authors.initials: PY
authors.lastname: Risold
authors.forename: Michael G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Tovey
authors.forename: Hubert
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Laude
authors.forename: Françoise
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Dandoy-Dron
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001343:Autophagy; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000032:analysis; D051379:Mice; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000032:analysis*; D009474:Neurons / Q000737:chemistry / Q000648:ultrastructure; D017096:Prion Diseases / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; C111496:Scrg1 protein, mouse