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Infection and Immunity, October 2005, p. 6229-6236, Vol. 73, No. 10
0019-9567/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/IAI.73.10.6229-6236.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Absence of Evidence for the Participation of the Macrophage Cellular Prion Protein in Infection with Brucella suis

Pascaline Fontes,1 Maria-Teresa Alvarez-Martinez,1 Antoine Gross,1 Claude Carnaud,2 Stephan Köhler,1 and Jean-Pierre Liautard1*

INSERM U431 and Université Montpellier II, place Eugène Bataillon, 34000 Montpellier, France,1 INSERM E209 and Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Hôpital Saint-Antoine, Paris, France2

Received 19 April 2005/ Returned for modification 31 May 2005/ Accepted 30 June 2005

Brucella spp. are stealthy bacteria that enter host cells without major perturbation. The molecular mechanism involved is still poorly understood, although numerous studies have been published on this subject. Recently, it was reported that Brucella abortus utilizes cellular prion protein (PrPC) to enter the cells and to reach its replicative niche. The molecular mechanisms involved were not clearly defined, prompting us to analyze this process using blocking antibodies against PrPC. However, the behavior of Brucella during cellular infection under these conditions was not modified. In a next step, the behavior of Brucella in macrophages lacking the prion gene and the infection of mice knocked out for the prion gene were studied. We observed no difference from results obtained with the wild-type control. Although some contacts between PrPC and Brucella were observed on the surface of the cells by using confocal microscopy, we could not show that Brucella specifically bound recombinant PrPC. Therefore, we concluded from our results that prion protein (PrPC) was not involved in Brucella infection.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: INSERM-U431, CC100, Université de Montpellier 2, Place E. Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier Cedex, France. Phone: 334 67 14 32 09. Fax: 334 67 14 33 38. E-mail: liautard{at}univ-montp2.fr.

Editor: J. B. Bliska

Infection and Immunity, October 2005, p. 6229-6236, Vol. 73, No. 10
0019-9567/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/IAI.73.10.6229-6236.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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