Differential expression of cellular prion protein (PrPC) in mouse hepatitis virus induced neuroinflammation.

The cellular prion protein (PrPC) is an extracellular cell membrane protein. Due to its diversified roles, a definite role of PrPC has been difficult to establish. During viral infection, PrPC has been reported to play a pleiotropic role. Here, we have attempted to envision the function of PrPC in the neurotropic m-CoV-MHV-RSA59-induced model of neuroinflammation in C57BL/6 mice. A significant upregulation of PrPC at protein and mRNA levels was evident in infected mouse brains during the acute phase of neuroinflammation. Furthermore, investigation of the effect of MHV-RSA59 infection on PrPC expression in specific neuronal, microglial, and astrocytoma cell lines, revealed a differential expression of prion protein during neuroinflammation. Additionally, siRNA-mediated downregulation of prnp transcripts reduced the expression of viral antigen and viral infectivity in these cell lines. Cumulatively, our results suggest that PrPC expression significantly increases during acute MHV-RSA59 infection and that PrPC also assists in viral infectivity and viral replication. © 2024. The Author(s) under exclusive licence to The Journal of NeuroVirology, Inc.

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Satavisha Ghosh, Rishika Jana, Soumen Jana, Rahul Basu, Madhurima Chatterjee, Nishtha Ranawat, Jayasri Das Sarma. Differential expression of cellular prion protein (PrPC) in mouse hepatitis virus induced neuroinflammation. Journal of neurovirology. 2024 Jun;30(3):215-228

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PMID: 38922550

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