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Marín-Moreno A, Reine F, Herzog L, Aron N, Jaffrézic F, Vilotte JL, Rezaei H, Andréoletti O, Martin D, Béringue V. Assessment of the Zoonotic Potential of Atypical Scrapie Prions in Humanized Mice Reveals Rare Phenotypic Convergence but Not Identity With Sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Prions. J Infect Dis 2024; 230:161-171. [PMID: 39052723 DOI: 10.1093/infdis/jiae093] [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: 12/13/2023] [Revised: 02/14/2024] [Accepted: 02/22/2024] [Indexed: 02/26/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Atypical/Nor98 scrapie (AS) is an idiopathic infectious prion disease affecting sheep and goats. Recent findings suggest that zoonotic prions from classical bovine spongiform encephalopathy (C-BSE) may copropagate with atypical/Nor98 prions in AS sheep brains. Investigating the risk AS poses to humans is crucial. METHODS To assess the risk of sheep/goat-to-human transmission of AS, we serially inoculated brain tissue from field and laboratory isolates into transgenic mice overexpressing human prion protein (Met129 allele). We studied clinical outcomes as well as presence of prions in brains and spleens. RESULTS No transmission occurred on the primary passage, with no clinical disease or pathological prion protein in brains and spleens. On subsequent passages, 1 isolate gradually adapted, manifesting as prions with a phenotype resembling those causing MM1-type sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans. However, further characterization using in vivo and in vitro techniques confirmed both prion agents as different strains, revealing a case of phenotypic convergence. Importantly, no C-BSE prions emerged in these mice, especially in the spleen, which is more permissive than the brain for C-BSE cross-species transmission. CONCLUSIONS The results obtained suggest a low zoonotic potential for AS. Rare adaptation may allow the emergence of prions phenotypically resembling those spontaneously forming in humans.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alba Marín-Moreno
- Université Paris-Saclay, Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement, Université Versailles-Saint Quentin, Unité de Virologie Immunologie Moléculaires, Jouy-en-Josas, France
| | - Fabienne Reine
- Université Paris-Saclay, Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement, Université Versailles-Saint Quentin, Unité de Virologie Immunologie Moléculaires, Jouy-en-Josas, France
| | - Laetitia Herzog
- Université Paris-Saclay, Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement, Université Versailles-Saint Quentin, Unité de Virologie Immunologie Moléculaires, Jouy-en-Josas, France
| | - Naima Aron
- Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement, Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire de Toulouse, Unité Interactions Hôte Agent Pathogène, Toulouse, France
| | - Florence Jaffrézic
- Université Paris-Saclay, Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement, AgroParisTech, Unité de Génétique Animale et Biologie Intégrative, Jouy-en-Josas, France
| | - Jean-Luc Vilotte
- Université Paris-Saclay, Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement, AgroParisTech, Unité de Génétique Animale et Biologie Intégrative, Jouy-en-Josas, France
| | - Human Rezaei
- Université Paris-Saclay, Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement, Université Versailles-Saint Quentin, Unité de Virologie Immunologie Moléculaires, Jouy-en-Josas, France
| | - Olivier Andréoletti
- Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement, Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire de Toulouse, Unité Interactions Hôte Agent Pathogène, Toulouse, France
| | - Davy Martin
- Université Paris-Saclay, Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement, Université Versailles-Saint Quentin, Unité de Virologie Immunologie Moléculaires, Jouy-en-Josas, France
| | - Vincent Béringue
- Université Paris-Saclay, Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement, Université Versailles-Saint Quentin, Unité de Virologie Immunologie Moléculaires, Jouy-en-Josas, France
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BSE can propagate in sheep co-infected or pre-infected with scrapie. Sci Rep 2021; 11:11931. [PMID: 34099797 PMCID: PMC8184847 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-91397-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2021] [Accepted: 05/24/2021] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
To understand the possible role of mixed-prion infections in disease presentation, the current study reports the co-infection of sheep with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and scrapie. The bovine BSE agent was inoculated subcutaneously into sheep with ARQ/ARQ or VRQ/ARQ PRNP genotypes either at the same time as subcutaneous challenge with scrapie, or three months later. In addition, VRQ/VRQ sheep naturally infected with scrapie after being born into a scrapie-affected flock were challenged subcutaneously with BSE at eight or twenty one months-of-age. Sheep were analysed by incubation period/attack rate, and western blot of brain tissue determined the presence of BSE or scrapie-like PrPSc. Serial protein misfolding cyclic amplification (sPMCA) that can detect very low levels of BSE in the presence of an excess of scrapie agent was also applied to brain and lymphoreticular tissue. For VRQ/ARQ sheep challenged with mixed infections, scrapie-like incubation periods were produced, and no BSE agent was detected. However, whilst ARQ/ARQ sheep developed disease with BSE-like incubation periods, some animals had a dominant scrapie western blot phenotype in brain, but BSE was detected in these sheep by sPMCA. In addition, VRQ/VRQ animals challenged with BSE after natural exposure to scrapie had scrapie-like incubation periods and dominant scrapie PrPSc in brain, but one sheep had BSE detectable by sPMCA in the brain. Overall, the study demonstrates for the first time that for scrapie/BSE mixed infections, VRQ/ARQ sheep with experimental scrapie did not propagate BSE but VRQ/VRQ sheep with natural scrapie could propagate low levels of BSE, and whilst BSE readily propagated in ARQ/ARQ sheep it was not always the dominant PrPSc strain in brain tissue. Indeed, for several animals, a dominant scrapie biochemical phenotype in brain did not preclude the presence of BSE prion.
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Cali I, Espinosa JC, Nemani SK, Marin-Moreno A, Camacho MV, Aslam R, Kitamoto T, Appleby BS, Torres JM, Gambetti P. Two distinct conformers of PrP D type 1 of sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease with codon 129VV genotype faithfully propagate in vivo. Acta Neuropathol Commun 2021; 9:55. [PMID: 33766126 PMCID: PMC7995586 DOI: 10.1186/s40478-021-01132-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/30/2020] [Accepted: 02/21/2021] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Current classifications of sporadic Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (sCJD) identify five subtypes associated with different disease phenotypes. Most of these histopathological phenotypes (histotypes) co-distribute with distinct pairings of methionine (M)/valine (V) genotypes at codon 129 of the prion protein (PrP) gene and the type (1 or 2) of the disease-associated PrP (PrPD). Types 1 and 2 are defined by the molecular mass (~ 21 kDa and ~ 19 kDa, respectively) of the unglycosylated isoform of the proteinase K-resistant PrPD (resPrPD). We recently reported that the sCJDVV1 subtype (129VV homozygosity paired with PrPD type 1, T1) shows an electrophoretic profile where the resPrPD unglycosylated isoform is characterized by either one of two single bands of ~ 20 kDa (T120) and ~ 21 kDa (T121), or a doublet of ~ 21–20 kDa (T121−20). We also showed that T120 and T121 in sCJDVV have different conformational features but are associated with indistinguishable histotypes. The presence of three distinct molecular profiles of T1 is unique and raises the issue as to whether T120 and T121 represent distinct prion strains. To answer this question, brain homogenates from sCJDVV cases harboring each of the three resPrPD profiles, were inoculated to transgenic (Tg) mice expressing the human PrP-129M or PrP-129V genotypes. We found that T120 and T121 were faithfully replicated in Tg129V mice. Electrophoretic profile and incubation period of mice challenged with T121−20 resembled those of mice inoculated with T121 and T120, respectively. As in sCJDVV1, Tg129V mice challenged with T121 and T120 generated virtually undistinguishable histotypes. In Tg129M mice, T121 was not replicated while T120 and T121−20 generated a ~ 21–20 kDa doublet after lengthier incubation periods. On second passage, Tg129M mice incubation periods and regional PrP accumulation significantly differed in T120 and T121−20 challenged mice. Combined, these data indicate that T121 and T120 resPrPD represent distinct human prion strains associated with partially overlapping histotypes.
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Szigeti‐Buck K, Manuelidis L. Prokaryotic SPHINX replication sequences are conserved in mammalian brain and participate in neurodegeneration. J Cell Biochem 2019; 120:17687-17698. [DOI: 10.1002/jcb.29035] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/11/2019] [Accepted: 04/22/2019] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
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