Expression of the cellular prion protein affects posttransfusion recovery and survival of red blood cells in mice
Abstract
BACKGROUNDCellular prion protein (PrPC) is expressed on various cell types including red blood cells (RBCs). The PrPC plays a key role in the pathogenesis of prion diseases, but its physiologic function remains unclear.
PrPC is expressed on CD34+ hematopoietic stem cells and its expression is regulated during blood cell differentiation including the erythroid line. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODSWe investigated the role of PrPC in RBC survival in circulation by transfusing a mix of biotin-labeled RBCs from wild-type (WT) and PrP knockout (KO) mice to groups of recipient mice (WT and KO).
The proportion of biotinylated RBCs in peripheral blood was estimated by flow cytometry. RESULTSKO RBCs displayed a markedly higher first-day posttransfusion recovery but had a decreased survival in circulation when compared to WT RBCs.
Similar results were obtained in all groups of transfused mice, irrespective of RBCs biotinylation level. In addition, we confirmed this finding in an analogous study using Tga20 mice overexpressing PrPC and KO mice of a different genetic background.
CONCLUSIONOur results demonstrate that PrPC expression affects RBC recovery and survival in circulation.