The biology of the cellular prion protein

Prions are the etiological agents for infectious degenerative encephalopaties acting by inducing conformational changes in the cellular prion protein (PrPc), which is a cell membrane GPI anchored glycoprotein. Besides its conservation among species and expression in most tissues, and in particular, in high levels in the nervous system, the role for cellular prion protein remained obscure for some time. Initial skepticism about such a role was mainly due to the absence of a gross phenotype alteration in cellular prion protein null mice. In the last few years, some possible biological functions for cellular prion protein have been described. Copper binds to the molecule and the resulting complex may be responsible for cell protection against oxidative stress. Cellular prion protein is also a high-affinity ligand for laminin, and induces neuronal cell adhesion, neurite extension and maintenance. The binding site resides in a carboxy-terminal peptide of the gamma-1 chain, which is very conserved among all laminin types, indicating that this interaction may be relevant in other tissues besides the brain. Moreover, cellular prion protein association with a peptide that mimics a putative ligand at the cell surface, p66, triggers neuroprotective signals through a cAMP/PKA-dependent pathway. Since PrPc recycles from membrane to an intracellular compartment, which is induced by copper binding, it is also possible that the internalization mechanism allows switching off elicited signals.