title: The strain-encoded relationship between PrP replication, stability and processing in neurons is predictive of the incubation period of disease.
abstract: Prion strains are characterized by differences in the outcome of disease, most notably incubation period and neuropathological features. While it is established that the disease specific isoform of the prion protein, PrP(Sc), is an essential component of the infectious agent, the strain-specific relationship between PrP(Sc) properties and the biological features of the resulting disease is not clear. To investigate this relationship, we examined the amplification efficiency and conformational stability of PrP(Sc) from eight hamster-adapted prion strains and compared it to the resulting incubation period of disease and processing of PrP(Sc) in neurons and glia. We found that short incubation period strains were characterized by more efficient PrP(Sc) amplification and higher PrP(Sc) conformational stabilities compared to long incubation period strains. In the CNS, the short incubation period strains were characterized by the accumulation of N-terminally truncated PrP(Sc) in the soma of neurons, astrocytes and microglia in contrast to long incubation period strains where PrP(Sc) did not accumulate to detectable levels in the soma of neurons but was detected in glia similar to short incubation period strains. These results are inconsistent with the hypothesis that a decrease in conformational stability results in a corresponding increase in replication efficiency and suggest that glia mediated neurodegeneration results in longer survival times compared to direct replication of PrP(Sc) in neurons.
authors: Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska, United States of America.
authors: Jacob I
authors: JI
authors: Ayers
authors: Charles R
authors: CR
authors: Schutt
authors: Ronald A
authors: RA
authors: Shikiya
authors: Adriano
authors: A
authors: Aguzzi
authors: Anthony E
authors: AE
authors: Kincaid
authors: Jason C
authors: JC
authors: Bartz
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001253:Astrocytes / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D006224:Cricetinae; D054884:Host-Pathogen Interactions; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D055256:Infectious Disease Incubation Period; D008297:Male; D008647:Mesocricetus; D017628:Microglia / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D009474:Neurons / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D011328:Prions / Q000032:analysis / Q000502:physiology*; D012584:Sciatic Nerve / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D013045:Species Specificity
chemical_list: D011328:Prions