Myositis facilitates preclinical accumulation of pathological prion protein in muscle

BACKGROUND: In human and animal prion diseases, pathological prion protein, PrP(Sc), as well as prion infectivity is mainly found in the central nervous system, but also in lymphoid organs and muscle. Pathophysiology of prion colonization of lymphoid organs has been studied intensively, yet how myositis influences prion accumulation in muscle is unknown. RESULT: We have investigated the influence of myositis on PrP(Sc) accumulation and prion infectivity in two distinct mouse models of experimental autoimmune myositis. Furthermore, we have addressed the relevance of PrP(C) expression in the lymphoreticular system in myositis by generating bone marrow chimeras. Here we show that myositis positively influences muscular PrP(Sc) accumulation at preclinical time points and that PrP(C)-expression in the lymphoid system is critical for this. In muscle, PrP(Sc) and prion infectivity are uncoupled with detectable PrP(Sc) but no prion infectivity at preclinical time points. Muscle has an intrinsically high ability to clear PrP(Sc) once myositis has ceased, possibly involving autophagy. CONCLUSION: Our findings provide new insights into the pathophysiology of prion colonization in muscle pointing out that myositis leads to enhanced prion colonization of muscle in subclinical prion disease. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/2051-5960-1-78) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.