Formation and use of prion protein (PRP) complexes
First Claim
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1. A method of screening for compounds which inhibits the binding of PrPC to a PrP peptide, comprising the steps of:
- (a) contacting in vitro a test compound with a purified naturally occurring first component PrPC in the presence of a purified second component PrP peptide, wherein said PrP peptide has a random coil or α
helical confirmation, and wherein the first and second components form a prion protein complex with a PrPSC characteristic selected from the group consisting of (1) increased β
-sheet content, (2) diminished aqueous solubility, and (3) resistance to poroteolytic digestion, relative to PrPC ;
(b) detecting formation of a prion protein complex;
by determining (1) increased β
-sheet, (2) diminished aqueous solubility, or (3) resistance to proteolytic digestion, relative to PrPc and and(c) comparing levels of prion protein complex in the presence of said test compound with levels in the absence of the test compound, wherein reduced levels of said prion protein complex in the presence of said test compound is indicative that said test compound inhibits said binding of PrPC to a PrP peptide.
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Abstract
Prion protein (PrP) peptides having at least one α-helical domain and forming a random coil conformation in aqueous solutions bind cellular PrP (PrPC) to form a complex having characteristics of the scrapie isoform (PrPSc). Methods for screening compounds able to inhibit or decrease the binding of PrP peptides to PrPC are disclosed, as well as methods for assaying PrPSc.
151 Citations
27 Claims
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1. A method of screening for compounds which inhibits the binding of PrPC to a PrP peptide, comprising the steps of:
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(a) contacting in vitro a test compound with a purified naturally occurring first component PrPC in the presence of a purified second component PrP peptide, wherein said PrP peptide has a random coil or α
helical confirmation, and wherein the first and second components form a prion protein complex with a PrPSC characteristic selected from the group consisting of (1) increased β
-sheet content, (2) diminished aqueous solubility, and (3) resistance to poroteolytic digestion, relative to PrPC ;(b) detecting formation of a prion protein complex;
by determining (1) increased β
-sheet, (2) diminished aqueous solubility, or (3) resistance to proteolytic digestion, relative to PrPc and and(c) comparing levels of prion protein complex in the presence of said test compound with levels in the absence of the test compound, wherein reduced levels of said prion protein complex in the presence of said test compound is indicative that said test compound inhibits said binding of PrPC to a PrP peptide. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 24, 25)
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8. A method for screening compounds which inhibit induction of a prion protein complex, comprising the steps of:
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(a) contacting in vitro a test compound with a purified naturally occurring first component PrPC in the presence of a second purified component PrP peptide wherein said PrP peptide has a random coil or α
helical confirmation, and wherein the first and second components form a prion protein complex with a PrPSC characteristic selected from the group consisting of (1) increased β
-sheet context, (2) diminished aqueous solubility, and (3) resistance to poroteolytic digestion, relative to PrPC ;(b) detecting induction of the prion protein complex;
by determining (1) increased β
-sheet content, (2) diminished aqueous solubility, or (3) resistance to proteolytic digestion, relative to PrPc and(c) comparing induction of the prion protein complex in the presence of said test compound with induction of the protein prion complex in the absence of the test compound, wherein reduced levels of said prion protein complex in the presence of said test compound is indicative that said test compound inhibits induction. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 13, 26, 27)
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12. A method for screening compounds which inhibit induction of a prion protein complex, comprising the steps of:
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(a) contacting in vitro a test compound with a first component PrPc having, the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO;
10 in the presence of a second purified component PrP peptide wherein said PrP peptide has a random coil or α
helical confirmation and wherein the first and second components form a prion protein complex with a PrPsc characteristic selected from the group consisting of (1) increased β
-sheet content, (2) diminished aqueous solubility and (3) resistance to proteolytic digestion, relative to PrPc;(b) detecting induction of the prion protein complex by determining (1) increased β
-sheet content, (2) diminished aqueous solubility or (3) resistance to proteolytic digestion, relative to PrPc; and(c) comparing induction of the prion protein complex in the presence of said test compound with induction of the protein prion complex in the absence of the test compound, wherein reduced levels of said prion protein complex in the presence of said test compound is indicative that said test compound inhibits induction.
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14. An assay methodology, comprising:
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providing a purified naturally occurring PrPC protein; contacting the PrPC protein with a test compound; combining a purified peptide with the PrPC protein which peptide is characterized by having a random coil or α
helical confirmation and causing the PrPC protein to undergo conformational changes including the formation of β
-sheets in the absence of the test compound; anddetermining the effect of the test compound on preventing the conformational changes. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. An assay for PrPSc, said assay comprising the steps of:
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(a) mixing a first component of purified naturally occurring PrPC and a purified second component PrP peptide wherein said peptide has a random coil or α
helical confirmation under conditions in which a prion protein complex is formed;(b) adding a test sample suspected of containing PrPSc ; (c) measuring the amount of PrP peptide displaced from the prion protein complex by formation of PrPC /PrPSc complexes, wherein the amount of PrP peptide displaced from the prion protein complex is proportional to the amount of PrPSc present in the test sample. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23)
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Specification