1
|
Mehra S, Bourkas ME, Kaczmarczyk L, Stuart E, Arshad H, Griffin JK, Frost KL, Walsh DJ, Supattapone S, Booth SA, Jackson WS, Watts JC. Convergent generation of atypical prions in knockin mouse models of genetic prion disease. J Clin Invest 2024; 134:e176344. [PMID: 39087478 PMCID: PMC11291267 DOI: 10.1172/jci176344] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/02/2023] [Accepted: 06/11/2024] [Indexed: 08/02/2024] Open
Abstract
Most cases of human prion disease arise due to spontaneous misfolding of WT or mutant prion protein, yet recapitulating this event in animal models has proven challenging. It remains unclear whether spontaneous prion generation can occur within the mouse lifespan in the absence of protein overexpression and how disease-causing mutations affect prion strain properties. To address these issues, we generated knockin mice that express the misfolding-prone bank vole prion protein (BVPrP). While mice expressing WT BVPrP (I109 variant) remained free from neurological disease, a subset of mice expressing BVPrP with mutations (D178N or E200K) causing genetic prion disease developed progressive neurological illness. Brains from spontaneously ill knockin mice contained prion disease-specific neuropathological changes as well as atypical protease-resistant BVPrP. Moreover, brain extracts from spontaneously ill D178N- or E200K-mutant BVPrP-knockin mice exhibited prion seeding activity and transmitted disease to mice expressing WT BVPrP. Surprisingly, the properties of the D178N- and E200K-mutant prions appeared identical before and after transmission, suggesting that both mutations guide the formation of a similar atypical prion strain. These findings imply that knockin mice expressing mutant BVPrP spontaneously develop a bona fide prion disease and that mutations causing prion diseases may share a uniform initial mechanism of action.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Surabhi Mehra
- Tanz Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases and
| | - Matthew E.C. Bourkas
- Tanz Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases and
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Lech Kaczmarczyk
- Wallenberg Center for Molecular Medicine, Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden
- German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Bonn, Germany
| | - Erica Stuart
- Tanz Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases and
| | - Hamza Arshad
- Tanz Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases and
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | | | - Kathy L. Frost
- One Health Division, National Microbiology Laboratory, Public Health Agency of Canada, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
| | | | - Surachai Supattapone
- Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology and
- Department of Medicine, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA
| | - Stephanie A. Booth
- One Health Division, National Microbiology Laboratory, Public Health Agency of Canada, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
- Department of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
| | - Walker S. Jackson
- Wallenberg Center for Molecular Medicine, Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden
- German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Bonn, Germany
| | - Joel C. Watts
- Tanz Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases and
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Vidal E, Sánchez-Martín MA, Eraña H, Lázaro SP, Pérez-Castro MA, Otero A, Charco JM, Marín B, López-Moreno R, Díaz-Domínguez CM, Geijo M, Ordóñez M, Cantero G, di Bari M, Lorenzo NL, Pirisinu L, d’Agostino C, Torres JM, Béringue V, Telling G, Badiola JJ, Pumarola M, Bolea R, Nonno R, Requena JR, Castilla J. Bona fide atypical scrapie faithfully reproduced for the first time in a rodent model. Acta Neuropathol Commun 2022; 10:179. [PMID: 36514160 PMCID: PMC9749341 DOI: 10.1186/s40478-022-01477-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/16/2022] [Accepted: 11/10/2022] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Atypical Scrapie, which is not linked to epidemics, is assumed to be an idiopathic spontaneous prion disease in small ruminants. Therefore, its occurrence is unlikely to be controlled through selective breeding or other strategies as it is done for classical scrapie outbreaks. Its spontaneous nature and its sporadic incidence worldwide is reminiscent of the incidence of idiopathic spontaneous prion diseases in humans, which account for more than 85% of the cases in humans. Hence, developing animal models that consistently reproduce this phenomenon of spontaneous PrP misfolding, is of importance to study the pathobiology of idiopathic spontaneous prion disorders. Transgenic mice overexpressing sheep PrPC with I112 polymorphism (TgShI112, 1-2 × PrP levels compared to sheep brain) manifest clinical signs of a spongiform encephalopathy spontaneously as early as 380 days of age. The brains of these animals show the neuropathological hallmarks of prion disease and biochemical analyses of the misfolded prion protein show a ladder-like PrPres pattern with a predominant 7-10 kDa band. Brain homogenates from spontaneously diseased transgenic mice were inoculated in several models to assess their transmissibility and characterize the prion strain generated: TgShI112 (ovine I112 ARQ PrPC), Tg338 (ovine VRQ PrPC), Tg501 (ovine ARQ PrPC), Tg340 (human M129 PrPC), Tg361 (human V129 PrPC), TgVole (bank vole I109 PrPC), bank vole (I109I PrPC), and sheep (AHQ/ARR and AHQ/AHQ churra-tensina breeds). Our analysis of the results of these bioassays concludes that the strain generated in this model is indistinguishable to that causing atypical scrapie (Nor98). Thus, we present the first faithful model for a bona fide, transmissible, ovine, atypical scrapie prion disease.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Enric Vidal
- grid.424716.2Unitat Mixta d’Investigació IRTA-UAB en Sanitat Animal, Centre de Recerca en Sanitat Animal (CReSA), Campus de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Bellaterra, Catalonia Spain ,grid.424716.2IRTA Programa de Sanitat Animal, Centre de Recerca en Sanitat Animal (CReSA), Campus de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Bellaterra, Catalonia Spain
| | - Manuel A. Sánchez-Martín
- grid.11762.330000 0001 2180 1817Transgenic Facility. Department of Medicine, University of Salamanca, 37007 Salamanca, Spain
| | - Hasier Eraña
- grid.420175.50000 0004 0639 2420Centro de Investigación Cooperativa en Biociencias (CIC BioGUNE), Laboratorio de Investigación de Priones, Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA), Derio, Bizkaia Spain ,ATLAS Molecular Pharma S. L., Derio, Bizkaia Spain ,grid.413448.e0000 0000 9314 1427Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Infecciosas (CIBERINFEC), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain
| | - Sonia Pérez Lázaro
- grid.11205.370000 0001 2152 8769Centro de Encefalopatías y Enfermedades Transmisibles Emergentes, Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad de Zaragoza–IA2, Zaragoza, Spain
| | - Miguel A. Pérez-Castro
- grid.420175.50000 0004 0639 2420Centro de Investigación Cooperativa en Biociencias (CIC BioGUNE), Laboratorio de Investigación de Priones, Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA), Derio, Bizkaia Spain
| | - Alicia Otero
- grid.11205.370000 0001 2152 8769Centro de Encefalopatías y Enfermedades Transmisibles Emergentes, Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad de Zaragoza–IA2, Zaragoza, Spain
| | - Jorge M. Charco
- grid.420175.50000 0004 0639 2420Centro de Investigación Cooperativa en Biociencias (CIC BioGUNE), Laboratorio de Investigación de Priones, Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA), Derio, Bizkaia Spain ,ATLAS Molecular Pharma S. L., Derio, Bizkaia Spain ,grid.413448.e0000 0000 9314 1427Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Infecciosas (CIBERINFEC), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain
| | - Belén Marín
- grid.11205.370000 0001 2152 8769Centro de Encefalopatías y Enfermedades Transmisibles Emergentes, Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad de Zaragoza–IA2, Zaragoza, Spain
| | - Rafael López-Moreno
- grid.420175.50000 0004 0639 2420Centro de Investigación Cooperativa en Biociencias (CIC BioGUNE), Laboratorio de Investigación de Priones, Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA), Derio, Bizkaia Spain
| | - Carlos M. Díaz-Domínguez
- grid.420175.50000 0004 0639 2420Centro de Investigación Cooperativa en Biociencias (CIC BioGUNE), Laboratorio de Investigación de Priones, Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA), Derio, Bizkaia Spain
| | - Mariví Geijo
- grid.509696.50000 0000 9853 6743Animal Health Department, NEIKER-Basque Institute for Agricultural Research and Development, Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA), Derio, Spain
| | - Montserrat Ordóñez
- grid.424716.2Unitat Mixta d’Investigació IRTA-UAB en Sanitat Animal, Centre de Recerca en Sanitat Animal (CReSA), Campus de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Bellaterra, Catalonia Spain ,grid.424716.2IRTA Programa de Sanitat Animal, Centre de Recerca en Sanitat Animal (CReSA), Campus de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Bellaterra, Catalonia Spain
| | - Guillermo Cantero
- grid.424716.2Unitat Mixta d’Investigació IRTA-UAB en Sanitat Animal, Centre de Recerca en Sanitat Animal (CReSA), Campus de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Bellaterra, Catalonia Spain ,grid.424716.2IRTA Programa de Sanitat Animal, Centre de Recerca en Sanitat Animal (CReSA), Campus de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Bellaterra, Catalonia Spain
| | - Michele di Bari
- grid.416651.10000 0000 9120 6856Department of Food Safety, Nutrition and Veterinary Public Health, Istituto Superiore Di Sanità, 00161 Rome, Italy
| | - Nuria L. Lorenzo
- grid.11794.3a0000000109410645CIMUS Biomedical Research Institute, University of Santiago de Compostela-IDIS, Santiago, Spain
| | - Laura Pirisinu
- grid.416651.10000 0000 9120 6856Department of Food Safety, Nutrition and Veterinary Public Health, Istituto Superiore Di Sanità, 00161 Rome, Italy
| | - Claudia d’Agostino
- grid.416651.10000 0000 9120 6856Department of Food Safety, Nutrition and Veterinary Public Health, Istituto Superiore Di Sanità, 00161 Rome, Italy
| | - Juan María Torres
- grid.419190.40000 0001 2300 669XCentro de Investigación en Sanidad Animal (CISA), Centro Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) Valdeolmos, Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria (INIA), 28130 Madrid, Spain
| | - Vincent Béringue
- grid.417961.cMolecular Virology and Immunology, Institut National de La Recherche Agronomique (INRA), Université Paris-Saclay, Jouy-en-Josas, France
| | - Glenn Telling
- grid.47894.360000 0004 1936 8083Prion Research Center (PRC) and the Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Pathology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO USA
| | - Juan J. Badiola
- grid.11205.370000 0001 2152 8769Centro de Encefalopatías y Enfermedades Transmisibles Emergentes, Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad de Zaragoza–IA2, Zaragoza, Spain
| | - Martí Pumarola
- Departament de Medicina i Cirurgia Animals, Facultat de Veterinària, Campus de UAB, Bellaterra, 08193 Barcelona, Catalonia Spain
| | - Rosa Bolea
- grid.11205.370000 0001 2152 8769Centro de Encefalopatías y Enfermedades Transmisibles Emergentes, Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad de Zaragoza–IA2, Zaragoza, Spain
| | - Romolo Nonno
- grid.416651.10000 0000 9120 6856Department of Food Safety, Nutrition and Veterinary Public Health, Istituto Superiore Di Sanità, 00161 Rome, Italy
| | - Jesús R. Requena
- grid.11794.3a0000000109410645CIMUS Biomedical Research Institute, University of Santiago de Compostela-IDIS, Santiago, Spain
| | - Joaquín Castilla
- grid.420175.50000 0004 0639 2420Centro de Investigación Cooperativa en Biociencias (CIC BioGUNE), Laboratorio de Investigación de Priones, Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA), Derio, Bizkaia Spain ,grid.413448.e0000 0000 9314 1427Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Infecciosas (CIBERINFEC), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain ,grid.424810.b0000 0004 0467 2314IKERBASQUE, Basque Foundation for Science, Bilbao, Bizkaia Spain
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Pirisinu L, Di Bari MA, D’Agostino C, Vanni I, Riccardi G, Marcon S, Vaccari G, Chiappini B, Benestad SL, Agrimi U, Nonno R. A single amino acid residue in bank vole prion protein drives permissiveness to Nor98/atypical scrapie and the emergence of multiple strain variants. PLoS Pathog 2022; 18:e1010646. [PMID: 35731839 PMCID: PMC9255773 DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1010646] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/21/2022] [Revised: 07/05/2022] [Accepted: 06/03/2022] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Prions are infectious agents that replicate through the autocatalytic misfolding of the cellular prion protein (PrPC) into infectious aggregates (PrPSc) causing fatal neurodegenerative diseases in humans and animals. Prions exist as strains, which are encoded by conformational variants of PrPSc. The transmissibility of prions depends on the PrPC sequence of the recipient host and on the incoming prion strain, so that some animal prion strains are more contagious than others or are transmissible to new species, including humans. Nor98/atypical scrapie (AS) is a prion disease of sheep and goats reported in several countries worldwide. At variance with classical scrapie (CS), AS is considered poorly contagious and is supposed to be spontaneous in origin. The zoonotic potential of AS, its strain variability and the relationships with the more contagious CS strains remain largely unknown. We characterized AS isolates from sheep and goats by transmission in ovinised transgenic mice (tg338) and in two genetic lines of bank voles, carrying either methionine (BvM) or isoleucine (BvI) at PrP residue 109. All AS isolates induced the same pathological phenotype in tg338 mice, thus proving that they encoded the same strain, irrespective of their geographical origin or source species. In bank voles, we found that the M109I polymorphism dictates the susceptibility to AS. BvI were susceptible and faithfully reproduced the AS strain, while the transmission in BvM was highly inefficient and was characterized by a conformational change towards a CS-like prion strain. Sub-passaging experiments revealed that the main strain component of AS is accompanied by minor CS-like strain components, which can be positively selected during replication in both AS-resistant or AS-susceptible animals. These findings add new clues for a better comprehension of strain selection dynamics in prion infections and have wider implications for understanding the origin of contagious prion strains, such as CS. Prions are transmissible agents responsible for fatal neurodegenerative diseases in humans and animals. Prions exist as strains, exhibiting distinct disease phenotypes and transmission properties. Some prion diseases occur sporadically with a supposedly spontaneous origin, while others are contagious and give rise to epidemics, mainly in animals. We investigated the strain properties of Nor98/atypical scrapie (AS), a sporadic prion disease of small ruminants. We found that AS was faithfully reproduced not only in a homologous context, i.e. ovinised transgenic mice, but also in an unrelated animal species, the bank vole. A natural polymorphism of the bank vole prion protein, coding for methionine (BvM) or for isoleucine (BvI) at codon 109, dictated the susceptibility of voles to AS, with BvI being highly susceptible to AS and BvM rather resistant. Most importantly, the M109I polymorphism mediated the emergence of AS-derived mutant prion strains resembling classical scrapie (CS), a contagious prion disease. Finally, by sub-passages in bank voles, we found that the main strain component of AS is accompanied by minor CS-like strain components, which can be positively selected during replication in both AS-resistant or AS-susceptible vole lines. These findings allow a better understanding of strain selection dynamics and suggest a link between sporadic and contagious prion diseases.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Laura Pirisinu
- Department of Food Safety, Nutrition and Veterinary Public Health, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy
| | - Michele Angelo Di Bari
- Department of Food Safety, Nutrition and Veterinary Public Health, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy
| | - Claudia D’Agostino
- Department of Food Safety, Nutrition and Veterinary Public Health, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy
| | - Ilaria Vanni
- Department of Food Safety, Nutrition and Veterinary Public Health, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy
| | - Geraldina Riccardi
- Department of Food Safety, Nutrition and Veterinary Public Health, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy
| | - Stefano Marcon
- Department of Food Safety, Nutrition and Veterinary Public Health, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy
| | - Gabriele Vaccari
- Department of Food Safety, Nutrition and Veterinary Public Health, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy
| | - Barbara Chiappini
- Department of Food Safety, Nutrition and Veterinary Public Health, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy
| | | | - Umberto Agrimi
- Department of Food Safety, Nutrition and Veterinary Public Health, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy
| | - Romolo Nonno
- Department of Food Safety, Nutrition and Veterinary Public Health, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy
- * E-mail:
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Arshad H, Bourkas MEC, Watts JC. The utility of bank voles for studying prion disease. PROGRESS IN MOLECULAR BIOLOGY AND TRANSLATIONAL SCIENCE 2020; 175:179-211. [PMID: 32958232 DOI: 10.1016/bs.pmbts.2020.08.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Abstract
The transmission of prions between species is typically an inefficient process due to the species barrier, which represents incompatibility between prion seed and substrate molecules. Bank voles (Myodes glareolus) are an exception to this rule, as they are susceptible to a diverse range of prion strains from many different animal species. In particular, bank voles can be efficiently infected with most types of human prions and have played a critical role in validating variably protease-sensitive prionopathy (VPSPr) and certain forms of Gerstmann-Sträussler-Scheinker (GSS) disease as bona fide prion disorders rather than non-transmissible proteinopathies. The bank vole prion protein (BVPrP) confers a "universal prion acceptor" phenotype when expressed in mice and when used as a substrate for in vitro prion amplification assays, indicating that the unique prion transmission properties of bank voles are mediated by BVPrP. Over-expression of BVPrP in mice can also promote the spontaneous development of prion disease, indicating that BVPrP is intrinsically prone to both spontaneous and template-directed misfolding. Here, we discuss the utility of bank voles and BVPrP for prion research and how they have provided new tools for establishing rapid animal bioassays, modeling spontaneous prion disease, standardizing prion diagnostics, and understanding the molecular basis of the species barrier.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Hamza Arshad
- Tanz Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada; Department of Biochemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Matthew E C Bourkas
- Tanz Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada; Department of Biochemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Joel C Watts
- Tanz Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada; Department of Biochemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Identification of a homology-independent linchpin domain controlling mouse and bank vole prion protein conversion. PLoS Pathog 2020; 16:e1008875. [PMID: 32898162 PMCID: PMC7508373 DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1008875] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/09/2020] [Revised: 09/22/2020] [Accepted: 08/11/2020] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Prions are unorthodox pathogens that cause fatal neurodegenerative diseases in humans and other mammals. Prion propagation occurs through the self-templating of the pathogenic conformer PrPSc, onto the cell-expressed conformer, PrPC. Here we study the conversion of PrPC to PrPSc using a recombinant mouse PrPSc conformer (mouse protein-only recPrPSc) as a unique tool that can convert bank vole but not mouse PrPC substrates in vitro. Thus, its templating ability is not dependent on sequence homology with the substrate. In the present study, we used chimeric bank vole/mouse PrPC substrates to systematically determine the domain that allows for conversion by Mo protein-only recPrPSc. Our results show that that either the presence of the bank vole amino acid residues E227 and S230 or the absence of the second N-linked glycan are sufficient to allow PrPC substrates to be converted by Mo protein-only recPrPSc and several native infectious prion strains. We propose that residues 227 and 230 and the second glycan are part of a C-terminal domain that acts as a linchpin for bank vole and mouse prion conversion. Prions are unconventional infectious agents that lack nucleic acids such as DNA and RNA, and the mechanism by which prions replicate is not fully understood. It has been established that a central feature of the replication mechanism involves the misfolding of a host protein (PrPC) into an infectious shape termed PrPSc, but it is unclear how this misfolding occurs. Interestingly, it has been observed that a particular animal species, the European bank vole, is unusually susceptible to prion infection and that this near-universal susceptibility is caused by the specific PrPC sequence of this protein. Here we use a powerful and unique biochemical system to determine the specific region of bank vole PrPC that is primarily responsible for its propensity to misfold into PrPSc. This critical region, which is located at the extreme C-terminal end of the protein, appears to act as a linchpin domain that normally stabilizes the shape of PrPC and thereby regulates its misfolding into PrPSc.
Collapse
|
6
|
Takeuchi A, Mohri S, Kai H, Tamaoka A, Kobayashi A, Mizusawa H, Iwasaki Y, Yoshida M, Shimizu H, Murayama S, Kuroda S, Morita M, Parchi P, Kitamoto T. Two distinct prions in fatal familial insomnia and its sporadic form. Brain Commun 2019; 1:fcz045. [PMID: 32954274 PMCID: PMC7425372 DOI: 10.1093/braincomms/fcz045] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/05/2019] [Revised: 11/18/2019] [Accepted: 11/25/2019] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Fatal familial insomnia is a genetic prion disease, which is associated with the aspartic acid to asparagine substitution at codon 178 of the prion protein gene. Although the hallmark pathological feature is thalamic and olivary degeneration, there is a patient with an atypical fatal familial insomnia without the hallmark feature. The cause of the pathological variability is unclear. We analysed a Japanese fatal familial insomnia kindred and compared one atypical clinicopathological fatal familial insomnia phenotype case and typical fatal familial insomnia phenotype cases with transmission studies using multiple lines of knock-in mice and with protein misfolding cyclic amplification. We also analysed the transmissibility and the amplification properties of sporadic fatal insomnia. Transmission studies revealed that the typical fatal familial insomnia with thalamic and olivary degeneration showed successful transmission only using knock-in mice expressing human-mouse chimeric prion protein gene. The atypical fatal familial insomnia with spongiform changes showed successful transmission only using knock-in mice expressing bank vole prion protein gene. Two sporadic fatal insomnia cases with thalamic and olivary degeneration showed the same transmissibility as the typical fatal familial insomnia phenotype. Interestingly, one sporadic fatal insomnia case with thalamic/olivary degeneration and spongiform changes showed transmissibility of both the typical and atypical fatal familial insomnia phenotypes. Protein misfolding cyclic amplification could amplify both typical fatal familial insomnia cases and sporadic fatal insomnia cases but not the atypical fatal familial insomnia phenotype or other sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease subtypes. In addition to clinical findings and neuropathological features, the transmission properties and the amplification properties were different between the typical and atypical fatal familial insomnia phenotypes. It is suggested that two distinct prions were associated with the diversity in the fatal familial insomnia phenotype, and these two prions could also be detected in sporadic fatal insomnia.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Atsuko Takeuchi
- Department of Neurological Science, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai 980-8575, Japan
| | - Shirou Mohri
- Department of Neurological Science, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai 980-8575, Japan
| | - Hideaki Kai
- Department of Neurological Science, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai 980-8575, Japan
| | - Akira Tamaoka
- Department of Neurology, Division of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8576, Japan
| | - Atsushi Kobayashi
- Laboratory of Comparative Pathology, Graduate School of Veterinary Medicine, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-0818, Japan
| | - Hidehiro Mizusawa
- The National Center Hospital, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, Tokyo 102-0076, Japan
| | - Yasushi Iwasaki
- Department of Neuropathology, Institute for Medical Science of Aging, Aichi Medical University, Nagakute, Aichi 480-1195, Japan
| | - Mari Yoshida
- Department of Neuropathology, Institute for Medical Science of Aging, Aichi Medical University, Nagakute, Aichi 480-1195, Japan
| | - Hiroshi Shimizu
- Department of Pathology, Brain Research Institute, University of Niigata, Niigata 951-8585, Japan
| | - Shigeo Murayama
- Department of Neurology and Neuropathology (The Brain Bank for Aging Research), Tokyo 173-0015, Japan
| | | | - Masanori Morita
- Research and Development Division, Japan Blood Products Organization, Kobe 650-0047, Japan
| | - Piero Parchi
- Department of Experimental, Diagnostic and Specialty Medicine (DIMES), University of Bologna, Bologna 40126, Italy.,IRCCS Istituto delle Scienze Neurologiche, Bologna 40123, Italy
| | - Tetsuyuki Kitamoto
- Department of Neurological Science, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai 980-8575, Japan
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Glatzel M, Sigurdson CJ. Recent advances on the molecular pathogenesis of prion diseases. Brain Pathol 2019; 29:245-247. [PMID: 30588674 DOI: 10.1111/bpa.12693] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/17/2018] [Accepted: 12/18/2018] [Indexed: 12/01/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Markus Glatzel
- Institute of Neuropathology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), Hamburg, Germany
| | | |
Collapse
|
8
|
Rossi M, Baiardi S, Parchi P. Understanding Prion Strains: Evidence from Studies of the Disease Forms Affecting Humans. Viruses 2019; 11:E309. [PMID: 30934971 PMCID: PMC6520670 DOI: 10.3390/v11040309] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/17/2019] [Revised: 03/25/2019] [Accepted: 03/26/2019] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Prion diseases are a unique group of rare neurodegenerative disorders characterized by tissue deposition of heterogeneous aggregates of abnormally folded protease-resistant prion protein (PrPSc), a broad spectrum of disease phenotypes and a variable efficiency of disease propagation in vivo. The dominant clinicopathological phenotypes of human prion disease include Creutzfeldt⁻Jakob disease, fatal insomnia, variably protease-sensitive prionopathy, and Gerstmann⁻Sträussler⁻Scheinker disease. Prion disease propagation into susceptible hosts led to the isolation and characterization of prion strains, initially operatively defined as "isolates" causing diseases with distinctive characteristics, such as the incubation period, the pattern of PrPSc distribution, and the regional severity of neuropathological changes after injection into syngeneic hosts. More recently, the structural basis of prion strains has been linked to amyloid polymorphs (i.e., variant amyloid protein conformations) and the concept extended to all protein amyloids showing polymorphic structures and some evidence of in vivo or in vitro propagation by seeding. Despite the significant advances, however, the link between amyloid structure and disease is not understood in many instances. Here we reviewed the most significant contributions of human prion disease studies to current knowledge of the molecular basis of phenotypic variability and the prion strain phenomenon and underlined the unsolved issues from the human disease perspective.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Marcello Rossi
- Department of Experimental, Diagnostic and Specialty Medicine (DIMES), University of Bologna, Bologna 40138, Italy.
- IRCCS Istituto delle Scienze Neurologiche di Bologna, Bologna 40139, Italy.
| | - Simone Baiardi
- Department of Biomedical and Neuromotor Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna 40123, Italy.
| | - Piero Parchi
- IRCCS Istituto delle Scienze Neurologiche di Bologna, Bologna 40139, Italy.
- Department of Experimental, Diagnostic and Specialty Medicine (DIMES), University of Bologna, Bologna 40138, Italy.
| |
Collapse
|