Cellular isoform of the scrapie agent protein participates in lymphocyte activation

Epithelial and endothelial expression of the green fluorescent protein reporter gene under the control of bovine prion protein (PrP) gene regulatory sequences in transgenic mice

“…press the endogenous PrP c in B and T lymphocytes, respectively. prnp gene expression is present in lymphocytes shown to express gfp, and these data are in agreement with previous reports showing that B and T lymphocytes express the prnp gene (23,24). We noted that Ϸ5% of lymphocytes were gfp-positive and did not express prnp, and Ϸ35% were PrP-positive and did not express gfp.…”

“…In hamster, PrP c protein has been found to be present in pneumocytes, in parietal and enteroendocrine cells of the stomach (14), and in cardiomyocytes (13). PrP c also has been detected on the surface of lymphocytes and of activated T lymphocytes in humans and mice (23,24) and at higher levels on follicular dendritic cells (25).…”

Absence of the Cellular Prion Protein Exacerbates and Prolongs Neuroinflammation in Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis

“…PrP C is up-regulated during T cell activation in humans, and we demonstrated that murine T cells also demonstrated PrP C expression in response to T cell receptor-mediated cell activation (Figure 2, A and B). 48 PrP C has been shown to be present within the T cell-DC 'immunological synapse', 46 and in keeping with this localization, there is some evidence of alterations in either DC function and/or T cell responses to mitogenic stimuli in Prnp Ϫ/Ϫ cells. 17 In contrast to our results, loss of prion protein was associated with either no change, or rela- tively modest decreases, in the in vitro proliferative responses of T cells to stimuli, including mitogens and the mixed lymphocyte reaction.…”

New insights into cellular prion protein (PrPc) functions: The “ying and yang” of a relevant protein

“…For example, PrP c expression in vitro leads to lymphoid cell proliferation (Cashman et al, 1990;Li et al, 2001) or promotes human hematopoietic cell renewal (Zhang et al, 2006). In addition, PrP c is directly involved in tumor cell progression in several tissues.…”