Coincident scrapie infection and nephritis lead to urinary prion excretion

Prion infectivity is typically restricted to the central nervous and lymphatic systems of infected hosts, but chronic inflammation can expand the distribution of prions. We tested whether chronic inflammatory kidney disorders would trigger excretion of prion infectivity into urine. Urinary proteins from scrapie-infected mice with lymphocytic nephritis induced scrapie upon inoculation into noninfected indicator mice. Prionuria was found in presymptomatic scrapie-infected and in sick mice, whereas neither prionuria nor urinary PrP(Sc) was detectable in prion-infected wild-type or PrP(C)-overexpressing mice, or in nephritic mice inoculated with noninfectious brain. Thus, urine may provide a vector for horizontal prion transmission, and inflammation of excretory organs may influence prion spread.     

偶蹄动物朊蛋白基因变异性和其系统发生关系分析

【目的】为明了偶蹄动物PrP基因的结构特征及其变异与结构、功能和朊粒病传染种间屏障的关系以及系统发生关系;【方法】利用DNAstar和Clustalx程序及treev32软件进行了22种偶蹄动物的43个完整PrP基因序列的同源性分析、多重排比和进化树构建;【结果】不同种属偶蹄动物的PrP基因完整ORF大小有所差异,范围为768～795 bp,可编码255～264个氨基酸的朊蛋白。核苷酸和氨基酸序列的同源性,偶蹄动物间≥88.6%和≥93.3%,反刍动物间≥95.4%和≥96.5%。共发现40个点突变和2个突变区。在N-端柔韧无序"尾"区(25～135)以八肽重复缺失为主,球形结构域区(136～241)以点突变为主,点突变主要簇聚在S1 -折叠前的柔韧无规卷曲区的C-端部分和HC -螺旋内。氨基酸104～135区和球形结构域区存在有8个高突变位点。已知PrP肽基元和功能位点如芳烃回文序列基元、2个N-连接糖基化位点、2个苏氨酸磷酸化位点、1个酪氨酸硫化位点、形成二硫键的2个半胱氨酸以及GPI锚锚着点丝氨酸为偶蹄动物所共有,各种间变异体的各结构模式非常一致。进化关系分析,可将偶蹄动物PrP基因区分为3大类,反刍动物PrP基因分为3小类。令人意外的是,2个双峰驼PrP基因的进化关系与牛属动物基因同源。【结论】偶蹄动物的PrP基因是一个保守基因,氨基酸104～135区和球形结构域区内的8个高突变位点可能是影响分子间相互作用、形成朊粒病传染种间屏障的主要位点,物种间各氨基酸变异并不影响PrP的主要结构和功能。     

Facilitated cross-species transmission of prions in extraneural tissue

Prions are infectious pathogens essentially composed of PrP(Sc), an abnormally folded form of the host-encoded prion protein PrP(C). Constrained steric interactions between PrP(Sc) and PrP(C) are thought to provide prions with species specificity and to control cross-species transmission into other host populations, including humans. We compared the ability of brain and lymphoid tissues from ovine and human PrP transgenic mice to replicate foreign, inefficiently transmitted prions. Lymphoid tissue was consistently more permissive than the brain to prions such as those causing chronic wasting disease and bovine spongiform encephalopathy. Furthermore, when the transmission barrier was overcome through strain shifting in the brain, a distinct agent propagated in the spleen, which retained the ability to infect the original host. Thus, prion cross-species transmission efficacy can exhibit a marked tissue dependence.     

Cross-linking cellular prion protein triggers neuronal apoptosis in vivo

Neuronal death is a prominent, but poorly understood, pathological hallmark of prion disease. Notably, in the absence of the cellular prion protein (PrPC), the disease-associated isoform, PrPSc, appears not to be intrinsically neurotoxic, suggesting that PrPC itself may participate directly in the prion neurodegenerative cascade. Here, cross-linking PrPC in vivo with specific monoclonal antibodies was found to trigger rapid and extensive apoptosis in hippocampal and cerebellar neurons. These findings suggest that PrPC functions in the control of neuronal survival and provides a model to explore whether cross-linking of PrPC by oligomeric PrPSc can promote neuronal loss during prion infection.     

Presymptomatic detection of prions in blood

Prions are thought to be the proteinaceous infectious agents responsible for transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs). PrP(Sc), the main component of the infectious agent, is also the only validated surrogate marker for the disease, and its sensitive detection is critical for minimizing the spread of the disease. We detected PrP(Sc) biochemically in the blood of hamsters infected with scrapie during most of the presymptomatic phase of the disease. At early stages of the incubation period, PrP(Sc) detected in blood was likely to be from the peripheral replication of prions, whereas at the symptomatic phase, PrP(Sc) in blood was more likely to have leaked from the brain. The ability to detect prions biochemically in the blood of infected but not clinically sick animals offers a great promise for the noninvasive early diagnosis of TSEs.     

PrP106-126对BV-2小胶质细胞NO含量影响及作用机制

朊蛋白多肽PrP106-126可激活小胶质细胞并产生活性物质。探讨PrP106-126作用于BV-2小胶质细胞对NO生成状况影响,从酶学角度检测其作用机制。在细胞培养液中加入50μmol.L-1PrP106-126,培养48 h后检测培养液NO含量,采用实时定量RT-PCR检测细胞内iNOs和nNOs在mRNA表达水平。结果表明,PrP106-126显著提高细胞培养液中NO含量(9.34倍,P<0.01),且iNOs和nNOs表达水平均极显著提高(11.60倍和4.36倍,P<0.01),从而为解释朊病发生机制提供基础数据。     

Neurotoxicity of a fragment of the amyloid precursor associated with Alzheimer's disease

Amyloid deposition in senile plaques and the cerebral vasculature is a marker of Alzheimer's disease. Whether amyloid itself contributes to the neurodegenerative process or is simply a by-product of that process is unknown. Pheochromocytoma (PC12) and fibroblast (NIH 3T3) cell lines were transfected with portions of the gene for the human amyloid precursor protein. Stable PC12 cell transfectants expressing a specific amyloid-containing fragment of the precursor protein gradually degenerated when induced to differentiate into neuronal cells with nerve growth factor. Conditioned medium from these cells was toxic to neurons in primary hippocampal cultures, and the toxic agent could be removed by immunoabsorption with an antibody directed against the amyloid polypeptide. Thus, a peptide derived from the amyloid precursor may be neurotoxic.     

利用PRNP-/-羊制备朊蛋白多克隆抗体及其特性分析

【目的】利用朊蛋白双基因敲除（PRNP-/-）羊制备朊蛋白多克隆抗体,并对其特性进行分析。【方法】构建山羊朊蛋白（PrP）原核表达载体,转入大肠杆菌并诱导表达,纯化获得羊PrP;将获得的PrP免疫PRNP-/-山羊,制备朊蛋白特异性的多克隆抗体;并对获得的朊蛋白多克隆抗体进行ELISA及Western-blot检测。【结果】获得了大量的朊蛋白特异性抗血清,间接ELASA检测抗血清中朊蛋白多克隆抗体的效价为25600;Western-blot检测显示所制备抗体不仅可以识别鼠、牛、羊脑组织内源性朊蛋白,而且能识别鼠脑组织内朊病毒。【结论】PRNP-/-转基因山羊可用于制备大量高亲和力朊蛋白多克隆抗体,获得的抗体可用于多种动物朊蛋白及朊病毒类疾病的检测。     

水牛朊蛋白成熟片段基因的克隆与原核表达

【目的】克隆、分析水牛朊蛋白（prion protein，PrP）成熟片段基因，并获取纯化的表达产物。【方法】将应用PCR技术扩增的水牛成熟PrP的核酸序列克隆到表达载体pET-32a，并分析其序列；把阳性克隆质粒pET-32a-BPrP转化表达菌BL21(DE3)，鉴定纯化的表达产物。【结果】水牛朊蛋白成熟片段核酸序列及其推导的氨基酸序列与已知其他牛科动物的成熟PrP核酸、氨基酸序列间的相似性分别在97.1%和97.2%以上，并且发现水牛成熟PrP有5个重复序列，编码的氨基酸序列其中有2个九肽和3个八肽重复序列。具有较高的表达水平的PrP融合蛋白被纯化后，用Western印迹实验证明该蛋白具有PrP抗原活性。【结论】首次报道了克隆、分析水牛朊蛋白成熟片段基因，发现水牛成熟PrP有5个重复序列，并获得了具PrP抗原活性的水牛成熟PrP融合蛋白。     

The genetics of adult-onset neuropsychiatric disease: complexities and conundra?

Genetic factors play a major role in the etiology of adult-onset neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric disorders. Several highly penetrant genes have been cloned for rare, autosomal-dominant, early-onset forms of neurodegenerative diseases. These genes have provided important insights into the mechanisms of these diseases (often altering neuronal protein processing). However, the genes associated with inherited susceptibility to late-onset neurodegenerative diseases, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder appear to have smaller effects and are likely to interact with each other (and with nongenetic factors) to modulate susceptibility and/or disease phenotype. Several strategies have recently been applied to address this complexity, leading to the identification of a number of candidate susceptibility loci/genes.     

Human prion protein with valine 129 prevents expression of variant CJD phenotype

Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) is a unique and highly distinctive clinicopathological and molecular phenotype of human prion disease associated with infection with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE)-like prions. Here, we found that generation of this phenotype in transgenic mice required expression of human prion protein (PrP) with methionine 129. Expression of human PrP with valine 129 resulted in a distinct phenotype and, remarkably, persistence of a barrier to transmission of BSE-derived prions on subpassage. Polymorphic residue 129 of human PrP dictated propagation of distinct prion strains after BSE prion infection. Thus, primary and secondary human infection with BSE-derived prions may result in sporadic CJD-like or novel phenotypes in addition to vCJD, depending on the genotype of the prion source and the recipient.     

细胞型朊蛋白PrP~C与浮舰蛋白flotillin功能的研究进展

朊蛋白和脂筏是当今研究的热点。细胞型朊蛋白(PrPC)能够通过构象转变生成致病型的朊病毒(PrPSc),导致海绵状脑病的发生,但是目前关于PrPC的转变机制还不清楚。PrPC也是重要的信号转导蛋白,引发众多的信号转导事件。Flotillin属于新被命名为SPFH(stomatin/prohibitin/flotillin/HflK/C)的蛋白家族,是重要的脂筏标识性蛋白,它们不仅被动地担当着非胞膜窖脂筏的脚架,为蛋白质的相互作用和蛋白质复合体的组装以及信号转导提供平台,而且本身还主动地扮演着信号蛋白的角色,在许多的细胞事件中发挥重要作用。PrPC与flotillin能够发生相互作用,flotillin蛋白为PrPC的跨膜信号转导和PrPC转变成PrPSc提供了环境。本文重点综述了近5年来关于PrPC和flotillin蛋白功能的研究进展,尤其是信号转导方面的研究。     

Alpha-synuclein blocks ER-Golgi traffic and Rab1 rescues neuron loss in Parkinson's models

Alpha-synuclein (alphaSyn) misfolding is associated with several devastating neurodegenerative disorders, including Parkinson's disease (PD). In yeast cells and in neurons alphaSyn accumulation is cytotoxic, but little is known about its normal function or pathobiology. The earliest defect following alphaSyn expression in yeast was a block in endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-to-Golgi vesicular trafficking. In a genomewide screen, the largest class of toxicity modifiers were proteins functioning at this same step, including the Rab guanosine triphosphatase Ypt1p, which associated with cytoplasmic alphaSyn inclusions. Elevated expression of Rab1, the mammalian YPT1 homolog, protected against alphaSyn-induced dopaminergic neuron loss in animal models of PD. Thus, synucleinopathies may result from disruptions in basic cellular functions that interface with the unique biology of particular neurons to make them especially vulnerable.     

Choline acetyltransferase activity in striatum of neonatal rats increased by nerve growth factor

Some neurodegenerative disorders may be caused by abnormal synthesis or utilization of trophic molecules required to support neuronal survival. A test of this hypothesis requires that trophic agents specific for the affected neurons be identified. Cholinergic neurons in the corpus striatum of neonatal rats were found to respond to intracerebroventricular administration of nerve growth factor with prominent, dose-dependent, selective increases in choline acetyltransferase activity. Cholinergic neurons in the basal forebrain also respond to nerve growth factor in this way. These actions of nerve growth factor may indicate its involvement in the normal function of forebrain cholinergic neurons as well as in neurodegenerative disorders involving such cells.     

Toxic proteins in neurodegenerative disease

A broad range of neurodegenerative disorders is characterized by neuronal damage that may be caused by toxic, aggregation-prone proteins. As genes are identified for these disorders and cell culture and animal models are developed, it has become clear that a major effect of mutations in these genes is the abnormal processing and accumulation of misfolded protein in neuronal inclusions and plaques. Increased understanding of the cellular mechanisms for disposal of abnormal proteins and of the effects of toxic protein accumulation on neuronal survival may allow the development of rational, effective treatment for these disorders.     

Oxidative damage linked to neurodegeneration by selective alpha-synuclein nitration in synucleinopathy lesions

Aggregated alpha-synuclein proteins form brain lesions that are hallmarks of neurodegenerative synucleinopathies, and oxidative stress has been implicated in the pathogenesis of some of these disorders. Using antibodies to specific nitrated tyrosine residues in alpha-synuclein, we demonstrate extensive and widespread accumulations of nitrated alpha-synuclein in the signature inclusions of Parkinson's disease, dementia with Lewy bodies, the Lewy body variant of Alzheimer's disease, and multiple system atrophy brains. We also show that nitrated alpha-synuclein is present in the major filamentous building blocks of these inclusions, as well as in the insoluble fractions of affected brain regions of synucleinopathies. The selective and specific nitration of alpha-synuclein in these disorders provides evidence to directly link oxidative and nitrative damage to the onset and progression of neurodegenerative synucleinopathies.     

Depleting neuronal PrP in prion infection prevents disease and reverses spongiosis

The mechanisms involved in prion neurotoxicity are unclear, and therapies preventing accumulation of PrPSc, the disease-associated form of prion protein (PrP), do not significantly prolong survival in mice with central nervous system prion infection. We found that depleting endogenous neuronal PrPc in mice with established neuroinvasive prion infection reversed early spongiform change and prevented neuronal loss and progression to clinical disease. This occurred despite the accumulation of extraneuronal PrPSc to levels seen in terminally ill wild-type animals. Thus, the propagation of nonneuronal PrPSc is not pathogenic, but arresting the continued conversion of PrPc to PrPSc within neurons during scrapie infection prevents prion neurotoxicity.     

Reversal of neurological defects in a mouse model of Rett syndrome

Rett syndrome is an autism spectrum disorder caused by mosaic expression of mutant copies of the X-linked MECP2 gene in neurons. However, neurons do not die, which suggests that this is not a neurodegenerative disorder. An important question for future therapeutic approaches to this and related disorders concerns phenotypic reversibility. Can viable but defective neurons be repaired, or is the damage done during development without normal MeCP2 irrevocable? Using a mouse model, we demonstrate robust phenotypic reversal, as activation of MeCP2 expression leads to striking loss of advanced neurological symptoms in both immature and mature adult animals.     

Fate mapping analysis reveals that adult microglia derive from primitive macrophages

Microglia are the resident macrophages of the central nervous system and are associated with the pathogenesis of many neurodegenerative and brain inflammatory diseases; however, the origin of adult microglia remains controversial. We show that postnatal hematopoietic progenitors do not significantly contribute to microglia homeostasis in the adult brain. In contrast to many macrophage populations, we show that microglia develop in mice that lack colony stimulating factor-1 (CSF-1) but are absent in CSF-1 receptor-deficient mice. In vivo lineage tracing studies established that adult microglia derive from primitive myeloid progenitors that arise before embryonic day 8. These results identify microglia as an ontogenically distinct population in the mononuclear phagocyte system and have implications for the use of embryonically derived microglial progenitors for the treatment of various brain disorders.     

Unusual topogenic sequence directs prion protein biogenesis

Biosynthetic studies of the prion protein (PrP) have shown that two forms of different topology can be generated from the same pool of nascent chains in cell-free translation systems supplemented with microsomal membranes. A transmembrane form is the predominant product generated in wheat germ (WG) extracts, whereas a completely translocated (secretory) form is the major product synthesized in rabbit reticulocyte lysates (RRL). An unusual topogenic sequence within PrP is now shown to direct this system-dependent difference. The actions of this topogenic sequence were independent of on-going translation and could be conferred to heterologous proteins by the engineering of a discrete set of codons. System-dependent topology conferred by addition of RRL to WG translation products suggests that this sequence interacts with one or more cytosolic factors.