Reciprocal Interference Between Specific CJD and Scrapie Agents in Neural Cell Cultures
Noriuki Nishida,1,2
Shigeru Katamine,3
Laura Manuelidis1*
Infection of mice with an attenuated Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease agent (SY-CJD) interferes with superinfection by a more virulent human-derived CJD agent (FU-CJD) and does not require pathological prion protein (PrPres). Using a rapid coculture system, we found that a neural cell line free of immune system cells similarly supported substantial CJD agent interference without PrPres. In addition, SY-CJD prevented superinfection by sheep-derived Chandler (Ch) and 22L scrapie agents. However, only 22L and not Ch prevented FU-CJD infection, even though both scrapie strains provoked abundant PrPres. This relationship between particular strains of sheep- and human-derived agents is likely to affect their prevalence and epidemic spread.
1 Yale Medical School, New Haven, CT 06510, USA.
2 Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases, Gifu University, Yanagido 1-1, Gifu 501-1193, Japan.
3 Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Nagasaki University Graduate School of Medicine, 1-12-4 Sakamoto, Nagasaki 852-8523, Japan.
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: laura.manuelidis{at}yale.edu
