Analysis of conformational stability of abnormal prion protein aggregates across the spectrum of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease prions

The wide phenotypic variability of prion diseases is thought to depend on the interaction of a host genotype with prion strains that have self-perpetuating biological properties enciphered in distinct conformations of the misfolded prion protein, PrP(Sc) The latter concept is largely based on indirect approaches studying the effect of proteases or denaturing agents on the physicochemical properties of PrP(Sc) aggregates. Furthermore, most data come from studies on rodent-adapted prion strains, making current understanding of the molecular basis of strains and phenotypic variability in naturally occurring diseases, especially in humans, more limited. To fill this gap, we studied the effect of guanidine hydrochloride (GdnHCl) and heating on PrP(Sc) aggregates extracted from 60 sporadic CJD and 6 variant CJD brains. While denaturation curves obtained after exposure of PrP(Sc) to increasing GndHCl concentrations showed a similar profile among the 7 CJD types analysed, PrP(Sc) exposure to increasing temperature revealed significantly different and type-specific responses. In particular, MM1 and VV2, the most prevalent and faster replicating CJD types, showed stable and highly resistant PrP(Sc) aggregates, whereas VV1, a rare and slow propagating type, revealed unstable aggregates that easily dissolved at low temperature. Taken together our results indicate that the molecular interactions mediating the aggregation state of PrP(Sc), possibly enciphering strain diversity, are differently targeted by GdnHCl, temperature and proteases. Furthermore, the detected positive correlation between thermo-stability of PrP(Sc) aggregates and disease transmission efficiency makes inconsistent the proposed hypothesis that a decrease in conformational stability of prions results in an increase in their replication efficiency.

IMPORTANCE: Prion strains are defined as infectious isolates propagating distinctive phenotypic traits after transmission to syngenic hosts. Although the molecular basis of prion strains is not fully understood, it is largely accepted that variations in prion protein conformation drive the molecular changes leading to the different phenotypes. In this study, we exposed abnormal prion protein aggregates, encompassing the spectrum of human prion strains, to both guanidine hydrochloride and thermal unfolding. Remarkably, while exposure to increasing temperature revealed significant strain-specific differences in the denaturation profile of the protein, treatment with guanidine hydrochloride did not. The findings suggest that thermal and chemical denaturation perturb the structure of prion protein aggregates differently. Moreover, since the most thermo-stable prion protein types were those associated with the most prevalent phenotypes and most rapidly and efficiently transmitting strains, the results suggest a direct correlation between the strain replication efficiency and the thermo-stability of prion protein aggregates.