title: Bone marrow stroma cells are susceptible to prion infection.
abstract: Abnormal protease-resistant prion protein (PrP-res) is the only surrogate biochemical marker for prion diseases, and a sensitive technique to detect PrP-res in blood or tissues is urgently needed. Primary cultured bone marrow stromal cells (MSCs) expressed PrP and were capable of supporting stable human prion infection. Using a mouse-adapted BSE strain, we demonstrated that PrP-res can be detected in expanded MSCs. We then analyzed the bone marrow cells collected at autopsy from two individuals with sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), and, in both cases, cultured MSCs were positive for PrP-res. These data would suggest that ex vivo MSC expansion accompanied by PrP-res analysis could be a helpful tool in the definitive diagnosis of prion disease at an earlier stage in the disease process than is currently possible, and with considerably less distress to the patient.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Sakamoto 1-12-4, Nagasaki 852-8523, Japan.
authors.forename: Yuka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Takakura
authors.forename: Naohiro
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Yamaguchi
authors.forename: Takehiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nakagaki
authors.forename: Katsuya
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Satoh
authors.forename: Jun-ichi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kira
authors.forename: Noriyuki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nishida
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001854:Bone Marrow Cells / Q000378:metabolism*; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D007562:Creutzfeldt-Jakob Syndrome / Q000378:metabolism*; D004198:Disease Susceptibility; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018620:PrPSc Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D017154:Stromal Cells / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D018620:PrPSc Proteins