Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

A role for complement in transmissible spongiform encephalopathies

Two recent studies implicate the complement system in prion disease pathogenesis, suggesting that there are multiple, non-exclusive pathways of neuroinvasion (pages 485–487 & 488–492).

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Possible mechanism of complement-mediated uptake of the infectious agent that causes TSEs.

Bob Crimi

References

  1. Eklund, C.M., Kennedy, R.C. & Hadlow, W.J. Pathogenesis of scrapie virus infection in the mouse. J. Infect. Dis. 117, 15–22 (1967).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Kimberlin, R.H. & Walker, C.A. Pathogenesis of experimental scrapie. in Novel Infectious agents and the Central Nervous System (eds. Bock, G. & Marsh, J.) 37–54 (Ciba Foundation Symposia, Wiley, Chichester, 1988).

    Google Scholar 

  3. Mabbott, N.A., Farquhar, C.F., Brown, K.L. & Bruce, M.E. Involvement of the immune system in TSE pathogenesis. Immunol. Today 19, 201–203 (1998).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Aguzzi, A. Prion diseases, blood and the immune system: concerns and reality. Haematologica 85, 3–10 (2000).

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Bruce, M.E., Brown, K.L., Mabbott, N.A., Farquhar, C.F. & Jeffrey, M. Follicular dendritic cells in TSE pathogenesis. Immunol. Today 21, 442–445 (2000).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Klein, M.A. et al. Complement facilitates early prion pathogenesis. Nature Med. 7, 488–492 (2001).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Mabbott, N.A., Bruce, M.E., Botto, M., Walport, M.J. & Pepys, M.B. Temporary depletion of complement component C3 or genetic deficiency of C1q significantly delays onset of scrapie. Nature Med. 7, 485–487 (2001).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Aucouturier, P., Carp, R., Carnaud, C. & Wisniewski, T. Prion diseases and the immune system. Clin. Immunol. 96, 79–85 (2000).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Chesebro, B. Prion protein and the transmissible spongiform encephalopathy diseases. Neuron 24, 503–506 (1999).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Ishii, T., Haga, S., Yagishita, S. & Tateishi, J. The presence of complements in amyloid plaques of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and Gerstmann-Sträussler-Scheinker disease. Appl. Pathol. 2, 370–379 (1984).

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Brown, P. The phantasmagoric immunology of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy. in Immunologic Mechanisms in Neurologic and Psychiatric Disease (ed. Waksman, B.H.) 305–312 (Raven, New York, 1990).

    Google Scholar 

  12. Brown, K.L., Stewart, K., Bruce, M.E. & Fraser, H. Scrapie in immunodeficient mice. in Transmissible Subacute Spongiform Encephalopathies (eds. Court, L. & Dodet, B.) 159–166 (Elsevier, Paris, 1996).

    Google Scholar 

  13. Kimberlin, R.H. & Walker, C.A. Pathogenesis of mouse scrapie: patterns of agent replication in different parts of the CNS following intraperitoneal infection. J. R. Soc. Med. 75, 618–624 (1982).

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  14. Baldauf, E., Beekes, M. & Diringer, H. Evidence for an alternative direct route of access for the scrapie agent to the brain bypassing the spinal cord. J. Gen. Virol. 78, 1187–1197 (1997).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Race, R., Oldstone, M. & Chesebro, B. Entry versus blockade of brain infection following oral or intraperitoneal scrapie administration: role of prion protein expression in peripheral nerves and spleen. J. Virol. 74, 828–833 (2000).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Miele, G., Manson, J. & Clinton, M. A novel erythroid-specific marker of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies. Nature Med. 7, 361–364 (2001).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Cardone, F., Pocchiari, M. A role for complement in transmissible spongiform encephalopathies. Nat Med 7, 410–411 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/86469

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/86469

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing