Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3010, Australia.
Nucleic Acids Res. 2012 Nov;40(21):10937-49. doi: 10.1093/nar/gks832. Epub 2012 Sep 10.
Prion diseases are transmissible neurodegenerative disorders affecting both humans and animals. The cellular prion protein, PrP(C), and the abnormal infectious form, PrP(Sc), are found associated with exosomes, which are small 50-130 nm vesicles released from cells. Exosomes also contain microRNAs (miRNAs), a class of non-coding RNA, and have been utilized to identify miRNA signatures for diagnosis of disease. While some miRNAs are deregulated in prion-infected brain tissue, the role of miRNA in circulating exosomes released during prion disease is unknown. Here, we investigated the miRNA profile in exosomes released from prion-infected neuronal cells. We performed the first small RNA deep sequencing study of exosomes and demonstrated that neuronal exosomes contain a diverse range of RNA species including retroviral RNA repeat regions, messenger RNA fragments, transfer RNA fragments, non-coding RNA, small nuclear RNA, small nucleolar RNA, small cytoplasmic RNA, silencing RNA as well as known and novel candidate miRNA. Significantly, we show that exosomes released by prion-infected neuronal cells have increased let-7b, let-7i, miR-128a, miR-21, miR-222, miR-29b, miR-342-3p and miR-424 levels with decreased miR-146 a levels compared to non-infected exosomes. Overall, these results demonstrate that circulating exosomes released during prion infection have a distinct miRNA signature that can be utilized for diagnosis and understanding pathogenic mechanisms in prion disease.
朊病毒病是一种可传播的神经退行性疾病,影响人类和动物。细胞朊蛋白 PrP(C) 和异常传染性形式 PrP(Sc) 与外泌体有关,外泌体是一种 50-130nm 的小囊泡,由细胞释放。外泌体还含有 microRNAs (miRNAs),一种非编码 RNA,已被用于鉴定 miRNA 特征以诊断疾病。虽然一些 miRNA 在朊病毒感染的脑组织中失调,但 miRNA 在朊病毒病期间释放的循环外泌体中的作用尚不清楚。在这里,我们研究了朊病毒感染神经元细胞释放的外泌体中的 miRNA 谱。我们首次对外泌体的小 RNA 深度测序进行了研究,证明神经元外泌体包含多种 RNA 种类,包括逆转录病毒 RNA 重复区、信使 RNA 片段、转移 RNA 片段、非编码 RNA、小核 RNA、小核仁 RNA、小细胞质 RNA、沉默 RNA 以及已知和新的候选 miRNA。重要的是,我们表明,与未感染的外泌体相比,朊病毒感染的神经元细胞释放的外泌体中 let-7b、let-7i、miR-128a、miR-21、miR-222、miR-29b、miR-342-3p 和 miR-424 的水平增加,而 miR-146a 的水平降低。总的来说,这些结果表明,朊病毒感染期间释放的循环外泌体具有独特的 miRNA 特征,可用于诊断和理解朊病毒病的发病机制。