Cellular prion protein-mediated protection against influenza A virus infection

The cellular prion protein, termed PrPC, is a glycoprotein abundantly expressed in brains and to a lesser extent in non-neuronal tissues including lungs. It was reported that PrPC is expressed by lung epithelial cells in mice, and that it may play a protective role against lethal infection with influenza A viruses (IAVs). This may occur by regulating Cu content and superoxide dismutase activity, eventually reducing oxidative stress in infected lungs. Anti-oxidative therapeutics have been demonstrated to protect mice from lethal infection with IAVs. Therefore, PrPC might be a new target molecule for development of IAV therapeutics. Here, we introduce the anti-viral mechanism of PrPC against IAV infection and discuss perspectives of PrPC-targeting therapeutics against IAV infection.

This is the Authors' final version of the following article: Cellular prion protein-mediated protection against influenza A virus infection, Junji Chida and Suehiro Sakaguchi, Future Virology 2019 14:1, 31-37, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.2217/fvl-2018-0146. For full bibliographic citation, please refer to the version available at www.futuremedicine.com.