Elsevier

Neuroscience Letters

Volume 350, Issue 3, 30 October 2003, Pages 187-189
Neuroscience Letters

Immunisation with a synthetic prion protein-derived peptide prolongs survival times of mice orally exposed to the scrapie agent

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0304-3940(03)00907-8Get rights and content

Abstract

Several lines of evidence suggest that immunisations may be helpful in the prophylaxis and treatment of neurodegenerative amyloidoses like Alzheimer's disease and prion infections. We used a synthetic prion protein-derived peptide (PrP105–125) and a recombinant PrP fragment (PrP90–230) as antigens for the active immunisation of mice, which were subsequently infected by dietary exposure to the scrapie agent. Immunisation with PrP105–125 prolonged the survival times significantly. In contrast, immunisation with PrP90–230 or adjuvants alone had no effect on the disease development. An epitope mapping of the antibodies raised against PrP90–230 revealed that reactivities against previously defined protective epitopes were either underrepresented or absent. These results point towards the possibility to prevent prion spread via the food chain by vaccinating humans or other species at risk to contract prion diseases.

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Acknowledgements

We thank K. Krohn, S. Lichy, and H. Wohlert for expert technical assistance and N. Holtkamp for helpful discussions. This work was funded in part by grant 325-4471-02/45 from the Federal Ministry for Health and Social Security, and by grant 01KO0111 from the Federal Ministry for Education and Research, Germany.

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