Atypical Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease with PrP-amyloid plaques in white matter: molecular characterization and transmission to bank voles show the M1 strain signature

Amyloid plaques formed by abnormal prion protein (PrP(Sc)) aggregates occur with low frequency in Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, but represent a pathological hallmark of three relatively rare disease histotypes, namely variant CJD, sporadic CJDMV2K (methionine/valine at PRNP codon 129, PrP(Sc) type 2 and kuru-type amyloid plaques) and iatrogenic CJDMMiK (MM at codon 129, PrP(Sc) of intermediate type and kuru plaques). According to recent studies, however, PrP-amyloid plaques involving the subcortical and deep nuclei white matter may also rarely occur in CJDMM1 (MM at codon 129 and PrP(Sc) type 1), the most common CJD histotype. To further characterize the phenotype of atypical CJDMM1 with white matter plaques (p-CJDMM1) and unravel the basis of amyloid plaque formation in such cases, we compared clinical and histopathological features and PrP(Sc) physico-chemical properties between 5 p-CJDMM1 and 8 typical CJDMM1 brains lacking plaques. Furthermore, transmission properties after bioassay in two genetic lines of bank voles were also explored in the two groups. All 5 p-CJDMM1 cases had a disease duration longer than one year. Three cases were classified as sporadic CJDMM1, one as sporadic CJDMM1 + 2C and one as genetic CJDE200K-MM1. Molecular mass, protease sensitivity and thermo-solubilization of PrP(Sc) aggregates did not differ between p-CJDMM1 and classical CJDMM1 cases. Likewise, transmission properties such as incubation time, lesion profile and PrP(Sc) properties in bank voles also matched in the two groups. The present data further define the clinical-pathologic phenotype of p-CJDMM1, definitely establish it as a distinctive CJD histotype and demonstrate that PrP-plaque formation in this histotype is not a strain-specific feature. Since cases lacking amyloid plaques may also manifest a prolonged (i.e. > than one year) disease course, unidentified, host-specific factors likely play a significant role, in addition to disease duration, in generating white matter PrP-amyloid plaques in p-CJDMM1. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s40478-017-0496-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.