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| The EMBO Journal
(2001) 20, 3351–3358, doi:10.1093/emboj/20.13.3351 |
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| Scrapie strains maintain biological phenotypes on propagation in a cell line in culture |
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| Christopher R. Birkett1, Ruth M. Hennion1, Dawn A. Bembridge1, Michael C. Clarke1, Aileen Chree2, Moira E. Bruce2 and Christopher J. Bostock1 |
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1 Institute for Animal Health, Compton Laboratory, Compton, Newbury, RG20 7NN, UK 2 Institute for Animal Health, Neuropathogenesis Unit, Ogston Building, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JF, UK To whom correspondence should be addressed Christopher R. Birkett, chris.birkett@bbsrc.ac.uk Received 19 March 2001; Revised 2 May 2001; Accepted 2 May 2001. |
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| Abstract |
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| 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. |
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| Keywords: cultured cell, prion disease, prion protein isoforms, scrapie strain, transmissible spongiform encephalopathy |
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