Recombinant mouse prion protein (recMoPrP) produced in Escherichia coli was polymerized into amyloid fibrils that represent a subset of β sheet–rich structures. Fibrils consisting of recMoPrP(89–230) were inoculated intracerebrally into transgenic (Tg) mice expressing MoPrP(89–231). The mice developed neurologic dysfunction between 380 and 660 days after inoculation. Brain extracts showed protease-resistant PrP by Western blotting; these extracts transmitted disease to wild-type FVB mice and Tg mice overexpressing PrP, with incubation times of 150 and 90 days, respectively. Neuropathological findings suggest that a novel prion strain was created. Our results provide compelling evidence that prions are infectious proteins.

There is growing concern that bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) may have passed from cattle to humans. We report here that transgenic (Tg) mice expressing bovine (Bo) prion protein (PrP) serially propagate BSE prions and that there is no species barrier for transmission from cattle to Tg(BoPrP) mice. These same mice were also highly susceptible to a new variant of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (nvCJD) and natural sheep scrapie. The incubation times (Ϸ250 days), neuropathology, and disease-causing PrP isoforms in Tg(BoPrP)Prnp 0/0 mice inoculated with nvCJD and BSE brain extracts were indistinguishable and differed dramatically from those seen in these mice injected with natural scrapie prions. Our findings provide the most compelling evidence to date that prions from cattle with BSE have infected humans and caused fatal neurodegeneration.

We report that branched polyamines, including polyamidoamide dendimers, polypropyleneimine, and polyethyleneimine, are able to purge PrP Sc , the protease-resistant isoform of the prion protein, from scrapie-infected neuroblastoma (ScN2a) cells in culture. The removal of PrP Sc by these compounds depends on both the concentration of branched polymer and the duration of exposure. Chronic exposure of ScN2a cells to low noncytotoxic concentrations of branched polyamines for 1 wk reduced PrP Sc to an undetectable level, a condition that persisted at least 3 wk after removal of the compound. Structure-activity analysis revealed that a high surface density of primary amino groups is required for polyamines to eliminate PrP Sc effectively from cells. The removal of PrP Sc by branched polyamines is attenuated by chloroquine in living cells, and exposure of scrapie-infected brain extracts with branched polyamines at acidic pH rendered the PrP Sc susceptible to protease in vitro, suggesting that endosomes or lysozomes may be the site of action. Our studies suggest that branched polyamines might be useful therapeutic agents for treatment of prion diseases and perhaps a variety of other degenerative disorders.neurodegeneration ͉ protein conformation P rion diseases are a group of fatal neurodegenerative disorders that can occur in hereditary, sporadic, and infectious forms (1). These illnesses occur in humans and a variety of other animals (2). Prions are infectious proteins. The normal cellular form of the prion protein (PrP), designated PrP C , contains three ␣-helices and has little ␤-sheet; in contrast, the protein of the prions, denoted the scrapie form of PrP (PrP Sc ), is rich in ␤-sheet structure. The accumulation of PrP Sc in the central nervous system precedes neurologic dysfunction accompanied by neuronal vacuolation and astrocytic gliosis.The spectrum of human prion diseases includes kuru (3), Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) (4), Gerstmann-Sträussler-Scheinker disease, fatal familial insomnia (5, 6), and a new form of human prion disease, new variant CJD (nvCJD), which has emerged in Great Britain and France (7-9). Several lines of evidence have suggested a link between the nvCJD outbreak and a preceding epidemic of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (7,(10)(11)(12). Although it is too early to predict the number of nvCJD cases that might eventually arise in Great Britain and elsewhere (8), it is clear that effective therapeutics for prion diseases are urgently needed. Unfortunately, although a number of compounds including amphotericins, sulfated polyanions, Congo red dye, and anthracycline antibiotics, have been reported as prospective therapeutic agents (13-16), all have demonstrated only modest potential to impede prion propagation, and none have been shown to effect the removal of preexisting prions from an infected host.Here we report that noncytotoxic concentrations of branched polyamines can rapidly eliminate PrP Sc from chronically infected ScN2a cells. These compounds appear to act by stimulating normal ...

On passaging synthetic prions, two isolates emerged with incubation times differing by nearly 100 days. Using conformational-stability assays, we determined the guanidine hydrochloride (Gdn⅐HCl) concentration required to denature 50% of disease-causing prion protein (PrP Sc ) molecules, denoted as the [Gdn⅐HCl]1/2 value. For the two prion isolates enciphering shorter and longer incubation times, [Gdn⅐HCl]1/2 values of 2.9 and 3.7 M, respectively, were found. Intrigued by this result, we measured the conformational stabilities of 30 prion isolates from synthetic and naturally occurring sources that had been passaged in mice. When the incubation times were plotted as a function of the [Gdn⅐HCl] 1/2 values, a linear relationship was found with a correlation coefficient of 0.93. These findings demonstrate that (i) less stable prions replicate more rapidly than do stable prions, and (ii) a continuum of PrP Sc structural states enciphers a multitude of incubation-time phenotypes. Our data argue that cellular machinery must exist for propagating a large number of different PrP Sc conformers, each of which enciphers a distinct biological phenotype as reflected by a specific incubation time. The biophysical explanation for the unprecedented plasticity of PrP Sc remains to be determined.conformational stability ͉ memory ͉ strain ͉ synthetic prions ͉ tertiary structure

Prions arise when the cellular prion protein (PrPC) undergoes a self-propagating conformational change; the resulting infectious conformer is designated PrPSc. Frequently, PrPSc is protease-resistant but protease-sensitive (s) prions have been isolated in humans and other animals. We report here that protease-sensitive, synthetic prions were generated in vitro during polymerization of recombinant (rec) PrP into amyloid fibers. In 22 independent experiments, recPrP amyloid preparations, but not recPrP monomers or oligomers, transmitted disease to transgenic mice (n = 164), denoted Tg9949 mice, that overexpress N-terminally truncated PrP. Tg9949 control mice (n = 174) did not spontaneously generate prions although they were prone to late-onset spontaneous neurological dysfunction. When synthetic prion isolates from infected Tg9949 mice were serially transmitted in the same line of mice, they exhibited sPrPSc and caused neurodegeneration. Interestingly, these protease-sensitive prions did not shorten the life span of Tg9949 mice despite causing extensive neurodegeneration. We inoculated three synthetic prion isolates into Tg4053 mice that overexpress full-length PrP; Tg4053 mice are not prone to developing spontaneous neurological dysfunction. The synthetic prion isolates caused disease in 600–750 days in Tg4053 mice, which exhibited sPrPSc. These novel synthetic prions demonstrate that conformational changes in wild-type PrP can produce mouse prions composed exclusively of sPrPSc.

Synthetic prions were produced in our laboratory by using recombinant mouse prion protein (MoPrP) composed of residues 89-230. The first mouse synthetic prion strain (MoSP1) was inoculated into transgenic (Tg) 9949 mice expressing N-terminally truncated MoPrP(Δ23-88) and WT FVB mice expressing full-length MoPrP. On first and second passage in Tg9949 mice, MoSP1 prions caused disease in 516 ± 27 and 258 ± 25 days, respectively; numerous, large vacuoles were found in the brainstem and gray matter of the cerebellum. MoSP1 prions passaged in Tg9949 mice were inoculated into FVB mice; on first and second passage, the FVB mice exhibited incubation times of 154 ± 4 and 130 ± 3 days, respectively. In FVB mice, vacuolation was less intense but more widely distributed, with numerous lesions in the hippocampus and cerebellar white matter. This constellation of widespread neuropatho-logic changes was similar to that found in FVB mice inoculated with Rocky Mountain Laboratory (RML) prions, a strain derived from a sheep with scrapie. Conformational stability studies showed that the half-maximal GdnHCl (Gdn 1/2 ) concentration for denaturation of MoSP1 prions passaged in Tg9949 mice was ≈4.2 M; passage in FVB mice reduced the Gdn 1/2 value to ≈1.7 M. RML prions passaged in either Tg9949 or FVB mice exhibited Gdn 1/2 values of ≈1.8 M. The incubation times, neuropathological lesion profiles, and Gdn 1/2 values indicate that MoSP1 prions differ from RML and many other prion strains derived from sheep with scrapie and cattle with bovine spongiform encephalopathy.

Transgenic (Tg) mice expressing full-length bovine prion protein (BoPrP) serially propagate bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) prions without posing a transmission barrier. These mice also posed no transmission barrier for Suffolk sheep scrapie prions, suggesting that cattle may be highly susceptible to some sheep scrapie strains. Tg(BoPrP) mice were also found to be susceptible to prions from humans with variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD); on second passage in Tg(BoPrP) mice, the incubation times shortened by 30 to 40 days. In contrast, Tg(BoPrP) mice were not susceptible to sporadic, familial, or iatrogenic CJD prions. While the conformational stabilities of bovine-derived and Tg(BoPrP)-passaged BSE prions were similar, the stability of sheep scrapie prions was higher than that found for the BSE prions but lower if the scrapie prions were passaged in Tg(BoPrP) mice. Our findings suggest that BSE prions did not arise from a sheep scrapie strain like the one described here; rather, BSE prions may have arisen spontaneously in a cow or by passage of a scrapie strain that maintains its stability upon passage in cattle. It may be possible to distinguish BSE prions from scrapie strains in sheep by combining conformational stability studies with studies using novel Tg mice expressing a chimeric mouse-BoPrP gene. Single-amino-acid substitutions in chimeric PrP transgenes produced profound changes in incubation times that allowed us to distinguish prions causing BSE from those causing scrapie.

Some prion protein mutations create anchorless molecules that cause Gerstmann–Sträussler–Scheinker (GSS) disease. To model GSS, we generated transgenic mice expressing cellular prion protein (PrP C ) lacking the glycosylphosphatidyl inositol (GPI) anchor, denoted PrP(ΔGPI). Mice overexpressing PrP(ΔGPI) developed a late-onset, spontaneous neurologic dysfunction characterized by widespread amyloid deposition in the brain and the presence of a short protease-resistant PrP fragment similar to those found in GSS patients. In Tg(PrP,ΔGPI) mice, disease onset could be accelerated either by inoculation with brain homogenate prepared from spontaneously ill animals or by coexpression of membrane-anchored, full-length PrP C . In contrast, coexpression of N-terminally truncated PrP(Δ23–88) did not affect disease progression. Remarkably, disease from ill Tg(PrP,ΔGPI) mice transmitted to mice expressing wild-type PrP C , indicating the spontaneous generation of prions.