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Membrane Domain Localization and Interaction of the Prion-Family Proteins, Prion and Shadoo with Calnexin. MEMBRANES 2021; 11:membranes11120978. [PMID: 34940479 PMCID: PMC8704586 DOI: 10.3390/membranes11120978] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/08/2021] [Revised: 12/06/2021] [Accepted: 12/07/2021] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
The cellular prion protein (PrPC) is renowned for its infectious conformational isoform PrPSc, capable of templating subsequent conversions of healthy PrPCs and thus triggering the group of incurable diseases known as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies. Besides this mechanism not being fully uncovered, the protein’s physiological role is also elusive. PrPC and its newest, less understood paralog Shadoo are glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored proteins highly expressed in the central nervous system. While they share some attributes and neuroprotective actions, opposing roles have also been reported for the two; however, the amount of data about their exact functions is lacking. Protein–protein interactions and membrane microdomain localizations are key determinants of protein function. Accurate identification of these functions for a membrane protein, however, can become biased due to interactions occurring during sample processing. To avoid such artifacts, we apply a non-detergent-based membrane-fractionation approach to study the prion protein and Shadoo. We show that the two proteins occupy similarly raft and non-raft membrane fractions when expressed in N2a cells and that both proteins pull down the chaperone calnexin in both rafts and non-rafts. These indicate their possible binding to calnexin in both types of membrane domains, which might be a necessary requisite to aid the inherently unstable native conformation during their lifetime.
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Taschuk R, Marciniuk K, Määttänen P, Madampage C, Hedlin P, Potter A, Lee J, Cashman NR, Griebel PJ, Napper S. Safety, specificity and immunogenicity of a PrP(Sc)-specific prion vaccine based on the YYR disease specific epitope. Prion 2015; 8:51-9. [PMID: 24509522 DOI: 10.4161/pri.27962] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Prions are a novel form of infectivity based on the misfolding of a self-protein (PrP(C)) into a pathological, infectious isomer (PrP(Sc)). The current uncontrolled spread of chronic wasting disease in cervids, coupled with the demonstrated zoonotic nature of select livestock prion diseases, highlights the urgent need for disease management tools. While there is proof-of-principle evidence for a prion vaccine, these efforts are complicated by the challenges and risks associated with induction of immune responses to a self-protein. Our priority is to develop a PrP(Sc)-specific prion vaccine based on epitopes that are uniquely exposed upon misfolding. These disease specific epitopes (DSEs) have the potential to enable specific targeting of the pathological species through immunotherapy. Here we review outcomes of the translation of a prion DSE into a PrP(Sc)-specific vaccine based on the criteria of immunogenicity, safety and specificity.
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Evidence for prion-like mechanisms in several neurodegenerative diseases: potential implications for immunotherapy. Clin Dev Immunol 2013; 2013:473706. [PMID: 24228054 PMCID: PMC3817797 DOI: 10.1155/2013/473706] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/28/2013] [Revised: 06/11/2013] [Accepted: 07/02/2013] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) are fatal, untreatable neurodegenerative diseases. While the impact of TSEs on human health is relatively minor, these diseases are having a major influence on how we view, and potentially treat, other more common neurodegenerative disorders. Until recently, TSEs encapsulated a distinct category of neurodegenerative disorder, exclusive in their defining characteristic of infectivity. It now appears that similar mechanisms of self-propagation may underlie other proteinopathies such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and Huntington's disease. This link is of scientific interest and potential therapeutic importance as this route of self-propagation offers conceptual support and guidance for vaccine development efforts. Specifically, the existence of a pathological, self-promoting isoform offers a rational vaccine target. Here, we review the evidence of prion-like mechanisms within a number of common neurodegenerative disorders and speculate on potential implications and opportunities for vaccine development.
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Cancellotti E, Mahal SP, Somerville R, Diack A, Brown D, Piccardo P, Weissmann C, Manson JC. Post-translational changes to PrP alter transmissible spongiform encephalopathy strain properties. EMBO J 2013; 32:756-69. [PMID: 23395905 PMCID: PMC3590993 DOI: 10.1038/emboj.2013.6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 49] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/30/2012] [Accepted: 01/02/2013] [Indexed: 01/09/2023] Open
Abstract
The agents responsible for transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs), or prion diseases, contain as a major component PrP(Sc), an abnormal conformer of the host glycoprotein PrP(C). TSE agents are distinguished by differences in phenotypic properties in the host, which nevertheless can contain PrP(Sc) with the same amino-acid sequence. If PrP alone carries information defining strain properties, these must be encoded by post-translational events. Here we investigated whether the glycosylation status of host PrP affects TSE strain characteristics. We inoculated wild-type mice with three TSE strains passaged through transgenic mice with PrP devoid of glycans at the first, second or both N-glycosylation sites. We compared the infectious properties of the emerging isolates with TSE strains passaged in wild-type mice by in vivo strain typing and by the standard scrapie cell assay in vitro. Strain-specific characteristics of the 79A TSE strain changed when PrP(Sc) was devoid of one or both glycans. Thus infectious properties of a TSE strain can be altered by post-translational changes to PrP which we propose result in the selection of mutant TSE strains.
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Affiliation(s)
- Enrico Cancellotti
- Division of Neurobiology, The Roslin Institute and Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, University of Edinburgh, Easter Bush, Midlothian, UK
| | - Sukhvir P Mahal
- Department of Infectology, Scripps Florida, Jupiter, FL, USA
| | - Robert Somerville
- Division of Neurobiology, The Roslin Institute and Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, University of Edinburgh, Easter Bush, Midlothian, UK
| | - Abigail Diack
- Division of Neurobiology, The Roslin Institute and Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, University of Edinburgh, Easter Bush, Midlothian, UK
| | - Deborah Brown
- Division of Neurobiology, The Roslin Institute and Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, University of Edinburgh, Easter Bush, Midlothian, UK
| | - Pedro Piccardo
- Division of Neurobiology, The Roslin Institute and Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, University of Edinburgh, Easter Bush, Midlothian, UK,Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, Food and Drug Administration, Rockville, MD, USA
| | | | - Jean C Manson
- Division of Neurobiology, The Roslin Institute and Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, University of Edinburgh, Easter Bush, Midlothian, UK,Division of Neurobiology, The Roslin Institute & Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, University of Edinburgh, Easter Bush, Midlothian EH25 9RG, UK. Tel.:+44 131 651900; Fax:+44 131 6519105; E-mail:
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Affiliation(s)
- Kil Sun Lee
- Laboratory of Persistent Viral Diseases, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Hamilton, MT 59840
| | - Byron Caughey
- Laboratory of Persistent Viral Diseases, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Hamilton, MT 59840
- *To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail:
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Raymond GJ, Raymond LD, Meade-White KD, Hughson AG, Favara C, Gardner D, Williams ES, Miller MW, Race RE, Caughey B. Transmission and adaptation of chronic wasting disease to hamsters and transgenic mice: evidence for strains. J Virol 2007; 81:4305-14. [PMID: 17287284 PMCID: PMC1866158 DOI: 10.1128/jvi.02474-06] [Citation(s) in RCA: 88] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
In vitro screening using the cell-free prion protein conversion system indicated that certain rodents may be susceptible to chronic wasting disease (CWD). Therefore, CWD isolates from mule deer, white-tailed deer, and elk were inoculated intracerebrally into various rodent species to assess the rodents' susceptibility and to develop new rodent models of CWD. The species inoculated were Syrian golden, Djungarian, Chinese, Siberian, and Armenian hamsters, transgenic mice expressing the Syrian golden hamster prion protein, and RML Swiss and C57BL10 wild-type mice. The transgenic mice and the Syrian golden, Chinese, Siberian, and Armenian hamsters had limited susceptibility to certain of the CWD inocula, as evidenced by incomplete attack rates and long incubation periods. For serial passages of CWD isolates in Syrian golden hamsters, incubation periods rapidly stabilized, with isolates having either short (85 to 89 days) or long (408 to 544 days) mean incubation periods and distinct neuropathological patterns. In contrast, wild-type mouse strains and Djungarian hamsters were not susceptible to CWD. These results show that CWD can be transmitted and adapted to some species of rodents and suggest that the cervid-derived CWD inocula may have contained or diverged into at least two distinct transmissible spongiform encephalopathy strains.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gregory J Raymond
- Laboratory of Persistent Viral Diseases, Rocky Mountain Veterinary Branch, NIAID, NIH, Rocky Mountain Labs, 903 S. 4th St., Hamilton, MT 59840, USA
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Balbus N, Humeny A, Kashkevich K, Henz I, Fischer C, Becker CM, Schiebel K. DNA polymorphisms of the prion doppel gene region in four different German cattle breeds and cows tested positive for bovine spongiform encephalopathy. Mamm Genome 2005; 16:884-92. [PMID: 16284804 DOI: 10.1007/s00335-005-0052-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/05/2005] [Accepted: 07/18/2005] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Abstract
Polymorphisms of the prion protein gene PRNP have been shown to influence the susceptibility/resistance to prion infections in human and sheep. In addition, the T174M polymorphism within the flanking prion doppel gene (PRND) was thought to be involved in susceptibility to sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease. To study a possible influence of DNA polymorphisms of the bovine PRND gene in bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), previously identified and newly isolated DNA polymorphisms were genotyped in all available German cattle that tested positive for BSE. Genotypes and calculated haplotypes were compared with breeding bulls serving as controls. Analysis of the four major breeds Schwarzbunt (Holstein Friesian), Rotbunt (Holstein Red), Fleckvieh (Simmental), and Braunvieh (Swiss Brown) resulted in the isolation of the previously known polymorphisms R50H and R132Q and two novel synonymous single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) C4820T and A5063T. Comparative genotype and haplotype analysis of BSE and control animals revealed a significantly different distribution of polymorphisms C4815T and R132Q in Fleckvieh animals but not in the other breeds tested. No association to BSE susceptibility was detectable for polymorphisms R50H and A5063T.
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Affiliation(s)
- N Balbus
- Institut für Biochemie, Emil-Fischer-Zentrum, Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Fahrstrasse 17, Erlangen, Germany
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Silveira JR, Raymond GJ, Hughson AG, Race RE, Sim VL, Hayes SF, Caughey B. The most infectious prion protein particles. Nature 2005; 437:257-61. [PMID: 16148934 PMCID: PMC1513539 DOI: 10.1038/nature03989] [Citation(s) in RCA: 678] [Impact Index Per Article: 35.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/15/2005] [Accepted: 06/24/2005] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Abstract
Neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and the transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) are characterized by abnormal protein deposits, often with large amyloid fibrils. However, questions have arisen as to whether such fibrils or smaller subfibrillar oligomers are the prime causes of disease. Abnormal deposits in TSEs are rich in PrP(res), a protease-resistant form of the PrP protein with the ability to convert the normal, protease-sensitive form of the protein (PrP(sen)) into PrP(res) (ref. 3). TSEs can be transmitted between organisms by an enigmatic agent (prion) that contains PrP(res) (refs 4 and 5). To evaluate systematically the relationship between infectivity, converting activity and the size of various PrP(res)-containing aggregates, PrP(res) was partially disaggregated, fractionated by size and analysed by light scattering and non-denaturing gel electrophoresis. Our analyses revealed that with respect to PrP content, infectivity and converting activity peaked markedly in 17-27-nm (300-600 kDa) particles, whereas these activities were substantially lower in large fibrils and virtually absent in oligomers of < or =5 PrP molecules. These results suggest that non-fibrillar particles, with masses equivalent to 14-28 PrP molecules, are the most efficient initiators of TSE disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jay R Silveira
- Laboratory of Persistent Viral Diseases, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Hamilton, Montana 59840, USA
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