Quantitative profiling of the pathological prion protein allotypes in bank voles by liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry

The conversion of the cellular prion protein (PrPC) into a misfolded isoform (PrPTSE) that accumulates in the brain of affected individuals is the key feature of transmissible spongiform encephalopaties (TSEs). Susceptibility to TSEs is influenced by polymorphisms of the prion gene suggesting that the presence of certain amino acid residues may facilitate the pathological conversion. In this work, we describe a quantitative, fast and reliable HPLC–MS method that allowed to demonstrate that in the brain of 109Met/Ile heterozygous bank voles infected with the mouse adapted scrapie strain 139A, there are comparable amounts of PrPTSE with methionine or isoleucine in position 109, suggesting that in this TSE model the two allotypes have similar rates of accumulation. This method can be easily adapted for the quantitative determination of PrP allotypes in the brain of other natural or experimental TSE models.