A lympho-follicular microenvironment is required for pathological prion protein deposition in chronically inflamed tissues from scrapie-affected sheep.

ABSTRACT: In sheep scrapie, pathological prion protein (PrP(Sc)) deposition occurs in the lymphoreticular and central nervous systems. We investigated PrP(Sc) distribution in scrapie-affected sheep showing simultaneous evidence of chronic lymphofollicular, lymphoproliferative/non-lymphofollicular, and/or granulomatous inflammations in their mammary gland, lung, and ileum. To do this, PrP(Sc) detection was carried out via immunohistochemistry and Western Blotting techniques, as well as through inflammatory cell immunophenotyping. Expression studies of gene coding for biological factors modulating the host's inflammatory response were also carried out. We demonstrated that ectopic PrP(Sc) deposition occurs exclusively in the context of lymphofollicular inflammatory sites, inside newly formed and well-

SUBMITTER: Maestrale C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3643908 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature