The symptoms of prion infection can take years or decades to manifest following the initial exposure. Molecular markers of prion disease include accumulation of the misfolded prion protein (PrPSc), which is derived from its cellular precursor (PrPC), as well as downregulation of the PrP-like Shadoo (Sho) glycoprotein. Given the overlapping cellular environments for PrPC and Sho, we inferred that PrPC levels might also be altered as part of a host response during prion infection. Using rodent models, we found that, in addition to changes in PrPC glycosylation and proteolytic processing, net reductions in PrPC occur in a wide range of prion diseases, including sheep scrapie, human Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, and cervid chronic wasting disease. The reduction in PrPC results in decreased prion replication, as measured by the protein misfolding cyclic amplification technique for generating PrPSc in vitro. While PrPC downregulation is not discernible in animals with unusually short incubation periods and high PrPC expression, slowly evolving prion infections exhibit downregulation of the PrPC substrate required for new PrPSc synthesis and as a receptor for pathogenic signaling. Our data reveal PrPC downregulation as a previously unappreciated element of disease pathogenesis that defines the extensive, presymptomatic period for many prion strains.
Charles E. Mays, Chae Kim, Tracy Haldiman, Jacques van der Merwe, Agnes Lau, Jing Yang, Jennifer Grams, Michele A. Di Bari, Romolo Nonno, Glenn C. Telling, Qingzhong Kong, Jan Langeveld, Debbie McKenzie, David Westaway, Jiri G. Safar
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Prion Protein Endoproteolysis: Cleavage Sites, Mechanisms and Connections to Prion Disease
Castle AR, Westaway D |
Journal of Neurochemistry | 2025 |
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Simmons SM, Bartz JC |
Biology | 2024 |
Update on a brain-penetrant cardiac glycoside that can lower cellular prion protein levels in human and guinea pig paradigms
Eid S, Zhao W, Williams D, Nasser Z, Griffin J, Nagorny P, Schmitt-Ulms G |
PLOS ONE | 2024 |
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bioRxiv | 2024 |
The dynamics of prion spreading is governed by the interplay between the non-linearities of tissue response and replication kinetics
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iScience | 2024 |
Prion protein with a mutant N-terminal octarepeat region undergoes cobalamin-dependent assembly into high–molecular weight complexes
N Daude, A Lau, I Vanni, S Kang, A Castle, S Wohlgemuth, L Dorosh, H Wille, M Stepanova, D Westaway |
The Journal of biological chemistry | 2022 |
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PloS one | 2022 |
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PloS one | 2022 |
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Frontiers in molecular neuroscience | 2022 |
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Science Translational Medicine | 2022 |
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Cell and Tissue Research | 2022 |
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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences | 2022 |
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S Yoon, G Go, Y Yoon, J Lim, G Lee, S Lee |
Biomolecules | 2021 |
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Membranes | 2021 |
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CD Velásquez, C Kim, T Haldiman, C Kim, A Herbst, J Aiken, JG Safar, D McKenzie |
The Journal of biological chemistry | 2020 |
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R Lathe, JL Darlix |
Archives of Virology | 2020 |
Diverse, evolving conformer populations drive distinct phenotypes in frontotemporal lobar degeneration caused by the same MAPT-P301L mutation
N Daude, C Kim, SG Kang, G Eskandari-Sedighi, T Haldiman, J Yang, SC Fleck, E Gomez-Cardona, ZZ Han, S Borrego-Ecija, S Wohlgemuth, O Julien, H Wille, L Molina-Porcel, E Gelpi, JG Safar, D Westaway |
Acta Neuropathologica | 2020 |
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V Béringue, P Tixador, O Andréoletti, F Reine, J Castille, TL Laï, AL Dur, A Laisné, L Herzog, B Passet, H Rezaei, JL Vilotte, H Laude, NA Mabbott |
PLoS pathogens | 2020 |
Quaternary Structure Changes for PrPSc Predate PrPC Downregulation and Neuronal Death During Progression of Experimental Scrapie Disease
G Eskandari-Sedighi, LM Cortez, J Yang, N Daude, K Shmeit, V Sim, D Westaway |
Molecular Neurobiology | 2020 |
Incomplete glycosylation during prion infection unmasks a prion protein epitope that facilitates prion detection and strain discrimination
HE Kang, J Bian, SJ Kane, S Kim, V Selwyn, J Crowell, JC Bartz, GC Telling |
The Journal of biological chemistry | 2020 |
Prion protein quantification in human cerebrospinal fluid as a tool for prion disease drug development
SM Vallabh, CK Nobuhara, F Llorens, I Zerr, P Parchi, S Capellari, E Kuhn, J Klickstein, JG Safar, FC Nery, KJ Swoboda, MD Geschwind, H Zetterberg, SE Arnold, EV Minikel, SL Schreiber |
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences | 2019 |
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Emerging infectious diseases | 2019 |
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Viruses | 2019 |
Proteasomal Inhibition Redirects the PrP-Like Shadoo Protein to the Nucleus
SG Kang, CE Mays, N Daude, J Yang, S Kar, D Westaway |
Molecular Neurobiology | 2019 |
Domain-specific Quantification of Prion Protein in Cerebrospinal Fluid by Targeted Mass Spectrometry
EV Minikel, E Kuhn, AR Cocco, SM Vallabh, CR Hartigan, AG Reidenbach, JG Safar, GJ Raymond, MD McCarthy, R O'Keefe, F Llorens, I Zerr, S Capellari, P Parchi, SL Schreiber, SA Carr |
Molecular & cellular proteomics : MCP | 2019 |
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Prion | 2019 |
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VirusDisease | 2018 |
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PLoS pathogens | 2018 |
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Prion | 2018 |
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Prion | 2017 |
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AR Castle, AC Gill |
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Prion | 2016 |
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Molecular biology of the cell | 2016 |
Prion Strain Diversity
JC Bartz |
Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Medicine | 2016 |
Octarepeat region flexibility impacts prion function, endoproteolysis and disease manifestation
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EMBO Molecular Medicine | 2015 |
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Brain | 2015 |
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mBio | 2015 |
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