1 Institute for Animal Health, Compton Laboratories, Newbury, Berkshire RG20 7NN, UK
2 Welsh School of Pharmacy, Cardiff University, Redwood Building, King Edward VII Avenue, Cardiff CF10 3XF, UK
Correspondence
Louise Kirby
louise.kirby{at}bbsrc.ac.uk
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ABSTRACT |
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Published ahead of print on 24 January 2003 as DOI 10.1099/vir.0.18903-0.
Present address: VLA Lasswade, International Research Centre, Pentlands Science Park, Bush Loan, Penicuik, Midlothian EH26 OPZ, UK.
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INTRODUCTION |
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The causative agent responsible for TSEs or prion diseases has yet to be fully defined. A fundamental event in disease is the conversion of the normal, detergent-soluble, proteinase K-sensitive isoform of the prion protein, PrPC, to an abnormal, detergent-insoluble, partially proteinase K-resistant isoform, PrPSc, and the accumulation of this abnormal isoform in the central nervous system of infected animals (Hope et al., 1986; Meyer et al., 1986
; Oesch et al., 1985
). The protein-only hypothesis suggested that no nucleic acid is needed for replication (Griffith, 1967
); this has been refined by defining PrPSc as the infectious agent and replication as the conversion by PrPSc of host PrPC to more PrPSc (Prusiner et al., 1982
). Although the mechanism of conversion is unknown, interaction between PrPC and PrPSc is critically implicated by in vivo studies (Caughey & Chesebro, 1997
) and features in the current models of replication such as template-assisted (Prusiner, 1991
) and nucleation-dependent (Jarrett & Lansbury, 1993
) conversion.
The in vitro cell-free conversion assay has provided a quick, simple and well-defined system in which to study the molecular factors that influence the transition of PrPC to PrPSc (Kocisko et al., 1994). In this system, PrPSc, isolated from the brains of infected animals, induces the conversion of radiolabelled PrPC to a proteinase K-resistant isoform, PrPres. Newly formed PrPres is distinguished from the PrPSc used to seed the conversion by the fact that it is radiolabelled. The assay has been shown to replicate in vivo species specificity, strain properties and polymorphism barriers (Bessen et al., 1995
; Bossers et al., 1997
, 2000
; Iniguez et al., 2000
; Kocisko et al., 1995
; Zhang et al., 2002
; Raymond et al., 1997
; Horiuchi et al., 2000
) but as yet no in vitro-generated PrPres has been shown to be infectious (Hill et al., 1999
).
Traditionally, cell-free conversion assays have used, as substrate, PrPC purified from mammalian tissue culture cells (Kocisko et al., 1994; Bossers et al., 2000
; DebBurman et al., 1997
; Saborio et al., 1999
; Hill et al., 1999
) or, more recently, from baculovirus-infected insect cells (Iniguez et al., 2000
; Zhang et al., 2002
). In this study, we have modified the cell-free conversion assay by replacing the tissue culture-derived PrPC with PrP purified from bacteria and refolded in vitro. In addition, the guanidine conversion buffer, usually required for efficient conversion in vitro, has been replaced with a conversion buffer approximating physiological conditions, similar to that used by Horiuchi et al. (1999
).
We found that PrP derived from bacteria converts to a proteinase K-resistant isoform in the cell-free conversion assay and the assay was shown to mimic the in vivo species barriers of transmission of 263K hamster and 87V mouse scrapie between hamster and mouse.
With the emergence of BSE (Wells et al., 1987) and variant CJD (Will et al., 1996
), the search for prophylactic and therapeutic compounds is under way. We investigated the use of our modified cell-free conversion assay for identifying compounds that inhibit this conversion. Ten compounds with known anti-TSE activity in cell culture and/or in vivo were tested for their ability to inhibit this conversion. Eight of these compounds inhibited cell-free conversion to some extent, suggesting part of their in vivo effect could be modulated by binding directly to PrP. Two compounds did not inhibit in vitro conversion; these compounds may inhibit in vivo conversion indirectly by acting on some other part of cell metabolism.
These studies reinforce the specificity of PrPC and PrPSc interactions and the utility of the cell-free conversion assay using bacterial recombinant PrP to investigate TSE transmission barriers and identify potential prophylactic compounds.
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METHODS |
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Calcium chloride-competent Escherichia coli strain 1B392 were transformed with the recombinant vectors. Cells were grown in 50 ml volumes in methionine-deficient M63 media containing ampicillin to an OD600 of approximately 0·2, induced with 1 mM IPTG and proteins labelled with 18·5 MBq of [35S]methionine for 90 min. Cells were harvested by centrifugation, lysed in buffer [50 mM Tris/HCl (pH 8), 100 mM sodium chloride and 1 mM EDTA] containing PMSF (0·1 mM final) and lysozyme (20 µg ml-1 final) and then treated with sodium deoxycholate (1 mg ml-1 final) and DNase (5 µg ml-1 final). Inclusion bodies were isolated by centrifugation and solubilized in 8 M urea. Insoluble material was removed by centrifugation and PrP in the supernatant purified in a two-stage chromatographic procedure of Ni-NTA affinity chromatography (Qiagen), binding in 0·1 M sodium phosphate, 10 mM Tris (pH 8), 8 M urea and 10 mM -mercaptoethanol and eluting in 0·1 M sodium phosphate, 10 mM Tris (pH 4·5), 8 M urea and 10 mM
-mercaptoethanol, followed by cation-exchange chromatography using SPSepharose (Pharmacia), binding in 8 M urea and 50 mM HEPES (pH 8) and eluting with a sodium chloride gradient. Purification of PrP was followed by Western blotting using the monoclonal antibody (mAb) 6H4 (Prionics).
Following purification, 35S-labelled PrP was refolded by copper oxidation of the disulphide bond (Jackson et al., 1999) and dialysis into 50 mM sodium acetate (pH 5·5). Estimates of PrP purity were made by Coomassie staining and estimates of concentration were made using dissociation-enhanced lanthanide fluorescence immunoassay (DELFIA, Perkin-Elmer) using unlabelled recombinant PrP as a standard, the mAb FH11 (TSE Resource Centre, I.A.H., Compton, UK) for capture of PrP onto a 96-well plate and europium-labelled mAb 6H4 for subsequent detection.
PrPSc preparation.
PrPSc was prepared from the brains of terminally ill 87V-infected VM mice and 263K-infected hamsters, based on a method described by Hope et al. (1986). Briefly, a 5 % (w/v) brain homogenate was prepared in 10 mM sodium phosphate (pH 7·4) and 10 % (w/v) N-lauryl sarcosinate. The suspension was centrifuged at 22 000 g for 30 min at 10 °C. The supernatant was centrifuged at 215 000 g for 150 min at 10 °C and the pellet resuspended in H2O. The volume of the solution was adjusted to 9 ml g-1 of brain and its ionic composition to 0·6 M potassium iodide, 6 mM sodium thiosulphate, 1 % (w/v) N-lauryl sarcosinate and 10 mM sodium phosphate (pH 8·5) and centrifuged at 285 000 g for 90 min at 10 °C through a sucrose cushion of 20 % (w/v) sucrose in 0·6 M potassium iodide, 6 mM sodium thiosulphate, 1 % (w/v) N-lauryl sarcosinate and 10 mM sodium phosphate (pH 8·5). The pellet was washed in H2O and centrifuged in a microfuge. The final PrPSc pellet was resuspended in H2O by sonication to approximately 1 µg µl-1.
Cell-free conversion assay.
Two cell-free conversion protocols were used in this study, either with or without guanidine. The cell-free conversion assay without guanidine was based on that used by Horiuchi et al. (1999). Briefly, PrPSc was sonicated and approximately 1 µg incubated with 200 ng of [35S]PrP in conversion buffer [50 mM citrate (pH 6·5), 50 mM potassium chloride, 10 mM magnesium chloride, 100 mM sodium chloride and 0·1 % (v/v) Nonidet P-40], either with or without compounds to be tested for inhibition, for 24 h at 37 °C in a 20 µl volume reaction. Following incubation, 20 µl H2O was added. One-twentieth of the reaction mixture was removed for analysis without proteinase K treatment and the rest was treated with 60 µg proteinase K ml-1 for 1 h at 37 °C. Proteinase K digestion was stopped by the addition of Pefabloc to 1 mM. All samples were precipitated with 20 µg BSA and 4 vols ice-cold methanol at -20 °C. The resulting pellet was boiled for 10 min in SDS-PAGE sample buffer and analysed by SDS-PAGE in 15 % polyacrylamide gels. Gels were then fixed, dried and exposed to film. Autoradiographs were quantified using Phoretix Gel Analysis software. For cell-free conversion assays in guanidine buffers, we based our method on that described in Kocisko et al. (1994)
. PrPSc was sonicated briefly and approximately 1 µg pre-incubated in 2 M guanidine, 0·25 % (w/v) zwittergent 3-14 and 50 mM citrate (pH 6·5) in a reaction volume of 10 µl for 2 h at 37 °C. Following pre-incubation, 200 ng [35S]PrP was added to give a final guanidine concentration of 1 M. The reaction was incubated for 24 h at 37 °C and proteinase K-treated as described above.
Compounds.
Compounds were obtained from Sigma-Aldrich or Lancaster or synthesized directly. Congo Red (CR) and its analogues were stored as 10x stock solutions in 2 % (v/v) DMSO at -20 °C. Chlorpromazine and quinacrine were freshly prepared as 10x stock solutions in H2O for each experiment. For compound structures, see Fig. 4.
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RESULTS |
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Species specificity in the conversion reaction
87V mouse scrapie has a prolonged incubation time in hamsters and mice are highly resistant to infection with 263K hamster scrapie. To determine whether our cell-free conversion assay mimics this in vivo species specificity, hamster and mouse PrP were radiolabelled and purified from the bacterial expression system, refolded in vitro and incubated in a non-guanidine conversion buffer, with PrPSc isolated from 263K-infected hamster brains and 87V-infected mouse brains in homologous and heterologous conversion assays. Hamster 35S-labelled PrP, [35S]HaPrP, was converted by hamster PrPSc into [35S]HaPrPres (Fig. 3, lane 2) and [35S]MoPrP was converted by mouse PrPSc into [35S]MoPrPres (Fig. 3
, lane 6). Very little or no 17 kDa [35S]PrPres was produced when [35S]HaPrP was incubated with mouse PrPSc (Fig. 3
, lane 4) or when [35S]MoPrP was incubated with hamster PrPSc (Fig. 3
, lane 8). These data indicate that the species specificity observed in vivo can be mimicked in our cell-free conversion assay using recombinant bacterial PrP.
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We investigated the use of our cell-free conversion assay, using bacterial PrP, to study the inhibitory effect of such anti-TSE compounds. CR and its analogues and chlorpromazine and quinacrine (Fig. 4) were tested for their ability to inhibit formation of PrPres in our non-guanidine cell-free conversion assay using recombinant PrP purified from bacteria and refolded in vitro. [35S]MoPrP was incubated with 87V PrPSc with varying amounts of inhibitor compounds in the cell-free conversion assay. Fig. 5
shows a typical autoradiograph of inhibition of conversion of PrP to PrPres by CR and compound XXIV, Sirius Red (SR). CR and its analogues all inhibited conversion of [35S]MoPrP to PrPres to some extent (Fig. 5
). SR was the most effective inhibitor, with an average IC50 of 6·2±0·26 µM. This was followed by CR, with an average IC50 of 8·3±0·35 µM, then by compounds XVIII, VI, IX, XVI and XII, with average IC50 titres ranging from 25 to 70 µM (Fig. 6
). Compound III was the least effective inhibitor, with an average IC50 of 400 µM. As has been reported elsewhere (Demaimay et al., 1998
, 2000
; Rudyk et al., 2000
) that at low concentrations, CR and its analogues enhanced conversion above the control level. Chlorpromazine and quinacrine did not inhibit conversion at concentrations of 0·1100 µM in our cell-free conversion assay (data not shown).
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Guanidine prevents the inhibitory effect of CR
Previously, the inhibitory effects of CR and its analogues on the cell-free conversion of recombinant PrPC were investigated using protocols that incorporated guanidine (Demaimay et al., 1998, 2000
). Although CR inhibits conversion of PrPC to PrPres under such conditions, we wanted to measure the effect of CR on conversion without contributions from such non-physiological salts. The efficiency of conversion of [35S]PrP was similar in both the presence and the absence of guanidine (Fig. 5a
, lane 2, and Fig. 7
, lane 2, respectively). However, when our more physiologically compatible conversion buffer was substituted with conversion buffer containing guanidine, CR no longer inhibited cell-free conversion at similar concentrations (Fig. 7
).
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DISCUSSION |
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Recently, recombinant PrP isolated either by immunoprecipitation (Iniguez et al., 2000) or using an histidine tag (Zhang et al., 2002
) from baculovirus-infected insect cells has been used as a substrate in the cell-free conversion assay. These studies indicate that a non-mammalian source of PrP can be converted into a proteinase K-resistant species. In this study, we have used recombinant PrP expressed and purified from bacteria and refolded in vitro as a substrate in the cell-free conversion assay. This system uses relatively low amounts of radioactivity to produce high yields of recombinant protein, devoid of either an epitope tag or an histidine tag that may influence conversion, and because the protein is purified biochemically, complications such as the potential co-purification of cellular factors or antibody fragments is reduced. In addition, it is a quick and simple procedure and can allow rapid variation of protein sequence using standard cloning and mutagenesis techniques. Full-length mouse PrP (aa 23-230) was expressed, radiolabelled and purified from bacteria and refolded in vitro. The expressed protein had a molecular mass of approximately 26 kDa, characteristic of full-length, aglycosyl PrP lacking the GPI anchor. Kocisko et al. (1994)
have demonstrated that PrP does not require glycosylation or a GPI anchor to be converted in their cell-free conversion assays. We were able to show that bacterial recombinant PrP can be converted into PrPres in the cell-free conversion assay with efficiencies of conversion similar to those obtained with mammalian and baculovirus recombinant PrP. The most abundant [35S]PrPres product of the cell-free conversion assay is 17 kDa, 67 kDa smaller than the precursor [35S]PrP. This is similar to the 67 kDa reduction in mass seen upon digestion of brain-derived PrPSc. Proteinase K-resistant species smaller than 17 kDa were frequently observed in cell-free conversion assays. These smaller species do not correlate with in vivo transmissibility and may represent by-products of a non-pathogenic folding pathway.
To validate this bacterial PrP conversion assay, we investigated if the in vivo transmissibilities of scrapie between hamster and mouse could be replicated in this assay. The barriers of transmission of TSEs from one species to another generally involve a prolonged incubation period. The species specificity observed in vivo has been reproduced in the cell-free conversion assay using mammalian (Kocisko et al., 1995; Raymond et al., 1997
; Horiuchi et al., 2000
) and baculovirus (Iniguez et al., 2000
; Zhang et al., 2002
) recombinant PrP. In this study, the results of conversion reactions between recombinant hamster and mouse PrP, and PrPSc of 263K hamster and 87V mouse, correlates with the relative transmissibility of scrapie between those species in vivo. Although molecular compatibility between PrPC and PrPSc is important in the transmission of TSEs, other factors such as dose, route of infection and strain of agent may influence conversion in vivo.
Chlorpromazine, quinacrine and CR (and its analogues) are known inhibitors of PrPres formation in tissue culture cells (Korth et al., 2001; Demaimay et al., 1998
, 2000
; Rudyk et al., 2000
; Caughey & Race, 1992
; Caughey et al., 1993
) and have shown limited success in vivo (Ingrosso et al., 1995
). We observed similarities and differences in the ability of these compounds to inhibit conversion in the bacterial PrP cell-free assay. Chlorpromazine and quinacrine, contrary to their inhibitory effects on PrPres formation in ScN2a cells (Korth et al., 2001
), did not inhibit PrPres formation in the cell-free conversion assay. This suggests that in vivo chlorpromazine and quinacrine inhibit conversion not by binding directly to PrP but in some less direct effect on the cell. A recent study investigating the efficacy of quinacrine in an in vivo model of mouse-adapted scrapie failed to show a significant increase in survival time of scrapie-infected mice following quinacrine administration (Collins et al., 2002
). Alternatively, this lack of effect in the cell-free conversion assay may be due to host and TSE strain variables that are known to influence the effectiveness of anti-TSE drugs in vivo. The CR analogues used in our cell-free conversion assay were screened previously for their ability to inhibit PrPres formation in SMB cells (Rudyk et al., 2000
). Although the IC50 titres reported in the cellular assay were not identical to the titres generated in the cell-free system, the order of effectiveness as inhibitors was the same. In summary, SR was the most potent inhibitor in both assays. The half molecule of CR had some activity but only at high concentrations. Compounds with an increased level of sulphation, substitution of the naphthelene amino with trifluoroacetamide, 3,3'-modification of the biphenyl or replacement of the biphenyl with bisulphone, all retained some activity. This suggests that it is possible to modify the structure of CR without dramatically affecting its activity as an inhibitor and therefore, it should be possible to design a compound with improved pharmacokinetic properties. The correlation between the cell-free and the cellular conversion assays suggests that in vivo CR may prevent conversion by binding directly to PrP. The enhancement of PrPres formation observed at low concentrations of CR requires further investigation due to the obvious therapeutic implications.
The presence of guanidine in the conversion buffer prevented the inhibition of conversion by CR. This contradicts data that demonstrate inhibition of conversion by CR in the cell-free conversion assay in guanidine buffer (Demaimay et al., 1998, 2000
). Reasons for the observed difference may be the source of recombinant PrP, the species of PrP or other experimental conditions. However, the physiological conditions of our conversion assay give more relevance to the assay as a model of conversion and the similarity between our in vitro data and those from cell culture experiments (Rudyk et al., 2000
) support the use of more physiologically compatible buffers.
In summary, we have demonstrated that recombinant PrP expressed in a bacterial system and refolded in vitro can be converted into PrPres. In addition, the assay was shown to mimic the in vivo species specificity of transmission of 263K hamster and 87V mouse scrapie between hamster and mouse and will allow the study of TSE transmission barriers. Together, the correlation between the cell-free and the cellular conversion assay in the inhibitory effects of anti-TSE compounds, and the use of a physiologically compatible conversion buffer, make the conversion assay using bacterial recombinant PrP a promising model for discovering and investigating potential prophylactics.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS |
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Received 14 October 2002;
accepted 3 December 2002.