An improved method for cell-to-cell transmission of infectious prion

Masahiko Tanaka; Hideyuki Hara; Hiroshi Nishina; Kentaro Hanada; Ken'ichi Hagiwara; Tomohiko Maehama

doi:10.1016/j.bbrc.2010.05.143

An improved method for cell-to-cell transmission of infectious prion

Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2010 Jul 2;397(3):505-8. doi: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2010.05.143. Epub 2010 May 31.

Authors

Masahiko Tanaka¹, Hideyuki Hara, Hiroshi Nishina, Kentaro Hanada, Ken'ichi Hagiwara, Tomohiko Maehama

Affiliation

¹ Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, 1-23-1 Toyama, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162-8640, Japan.

PMID: 20515650
DOI: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2010.05.143

Abstract

Prion diseases are characterized by the accumulation of a pathological form of prion protein (PrP(Sc)), which behaves as an infectious agent. Here we developed an in vitro co-culture system to analyze the PrP(Sc) transmission from ScN2a cell, which persistently retains PrP(Sc), to naïve N2a cell. In this cell-to-cell transmission system, PrP(Sc) transmitted to recipient N2a cell was able to be detected within 5-7days. Further characterization showed that higher cell density greatly facilitated the transmission of PrP(Sc). This improved in vitro transmission method may become a useful tool for unveiling the molecular mechanism of PrP(Sc) transmission.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Cell Line
Coculture Techniques*
Mice
Models, Biological*
PrPSc Proteins / metabolism*
Prion Diseases / metabolism
Prion Diseases / transmission*
Protein Transport

Substances

PrPSc Proteins