Article
- The EMBO Journal (2001) 20, 3351 - 3358
- doi:10.1093/emboj/20.13.3351
Scrapie strains maintain biological phenotypes on propagation in a cell line in culture
Christopher R. Birkett1, Ruth M. Hennion1, Dawn A. Bembridge1, Michael C. Clarke1, Aileen Chree2, Moira E. Bruce2 and Christopher J. Bostock1
- Institute for Animal Health, Compton Laboratory, Compton, Newbury, RG20 7NN, UK
- Institute for Animal Health, Neuropathogenesis Unit, Ogston Building, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JF, UK
Correspondence to:
Christopher R. Birkett, E-mail: chris.birkett@bbsrc.ac.uk
Received 19 March 2001; Accepted 2 May 2001; Revised 2 May 2001
Abstract
Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and its human equivalent, variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (vCJD), are caused by the same strain of infectious agent, which is similar to, but distinct from, >20 strains of their sheep scrapie homologue. A better understanding of the molecular strain determinants could be obtained from cells in monoculture than from whole animal studies where different cell targeting is commonly a strain-related feature. Although a few cell types can be infected with different strains, the phenotypes of the emergent strains have not been studied. We have cured the scrapie-infected, clonal SMB cell line with pentosan sulfate, stably re-infected it with a different strain of scrapie and shown that biological properties and prion protein profiles characteristic of each original strain are propagated faithfully in this single non-neuronal cell type. These findings attest to the fact that scrapie strain determinants are stable and host-independent in isolated cells.
Keywords:
- cultured cell,
- prion disease,
- prion protein isoforms,
- scrapie strain,
- transmissible spongiform encephalopathy
