ArticlePLoS pathogens2018
Prion protein protects mice from lethal infection with influenza A viruses.
Article in PLoS pathogens, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 papers.
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Who cites it
25 citing papers in PubMed, 42 citations in OpenAlex.
- PrPEnvironmental science & technology · 2026Article
- Selenoprotein M Inhibits the Replication of Influenza A Virus by Regulating Reactive Oxygen Species Levels.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Prion protein modulation of virus-specific T cell differentiation and function during acute viral infection.ImmunoHorizons · 2025Article
- CRISPR/Cas9-editing of PRNP in Alpine goats.Veterinary research · 2025Article
- Anti-prion Antibody Ameliorates Metabolic Dysfunction-associated Steatohepatitis in Mice.Cellular and molecular gastroenterology and hepatology · 2025Article
- Protective role of cytosolic prion protein against virus infection in prion-infected cells.Journal of virology · 2024Article
- Prion protein alters viral control and enhances pathology after perinatal cytomegalovirus infection.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Influenza virus infection activates TAK1 to suppress RIPK3-independent apoptosis and RIPK1-dependent necroptosis.Cell communication and signaling : CCS · 2024Article
- Changes in the Expression of Proteins Associated with Neurodegeneration in the Brains of Mice after Infection with Influenza A Virus with Wild Type and Truncated NS1.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Article
- Comprehensive Analysis of Soluble Mediator Profiles in Congenital CMV Infection Using an MCMV Model.Viruses · 2024Article
- MAD-microbial (origin of) Alzheimer's disease hypothesis: from infection and the antimicrobial response to disruption of key copper-based systems.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2024Review
- Article
- No association of prion protein gene (Molecular & cellular toxicology · 2022Article
- Identification of Nifurtimox and Chrysin as Anti-Influenza Virus Agents by Clinical Transcriptome Signature Reversion.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Article
- Article
- Astrocyte inflammatory signaling mediates α-synuclein aggregation and dopaminergic neuronal loss following viral encephalitis.Experimental neurology · 2021Article
- Virus Infection, Genetic Mutations, and Prion Infection in Prion Protein Conversion.International journal of molecular sciences · 2021Review
- The Crossroads between Host Copper Metabolism and Influenza Infection.International journal of molecular sciences · 2021Review
- Neurotropic influenza A virus infection causes prion protein misfolding into infectious prions in neuroblastoma cells.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- N-Terminal Regions of Prion Protein: Functions and Roles in Prion Diseases.International journal of molecular sciences · 2020Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The cellular prion protein, designated PrPC, is a membrane glycoprotein expressed abundantly in brains and to a lesser extent in other tissues. Conformational conversion of PrPC into the amyloidogenic isoform is a key pathogenic event in prion diseases. However, the physiological functions of PrPC remain largely unknown, particularly in non-neuronal tissues. Here, we show that PrPC is expressed in lung epithelial cells, including alveolar type 1 and 2 cells and bronchiolar Clara cells. Compared with wild-type (WT) mice, PrPC-null mice (Prnp0/0) were highly susceptible to influenza A viruses (IAVs), with higher mortality. Infected Prnp0/0 lungs were severely injured, with higher inflammation and higher apoptosis of epithelial cells, and contained higher reactive oxygen species (ROS) than control WT lungs. Treatment with a ROS scavenger or an inhibitor of xanthine oxidase (XO), a major ROS-generating enzyme in IAV-infected lungs, rescued Prnp0/0 mice from the lethal infection with IAV. Moreover, Prnp0/0 mice transgenic for PrP with a deletion of the Cu-binding octapeptide repeat (OR) region, Tg(PrPΔOR)/Prnp0/0 mice, were also highly susceptible to IAV infection. These results indicate that PrPC has a protective role against lethal infection with IAVs through the Cu-binding OR region by reducing ROS in infected lungs. Cu content and the activity of anti-oxidant enzyme Cu/Zn-dependent superoxide dismutase, SOD1, were lower in Prnp0/0 and Tg(PrPΔOR)/Prnp0/0 lungs than in WT lungs. It is thus conceivable that PrPC functions to maintain Cu content and regulate SOD1 through the OR region in lungs, thereby reducing ROS in IAV-infected lungs and eventually protecting them from lethal infection with IAVs. Our current results highlight the role of PrPC in protection against IAV infection, and suggest that PrPC might be a novel target molecule for anti-influenza therapeutics.
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