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Quantitative expression of the HERV-W env gene in human tissues

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Abstract

Human endogenous retroviruses HERV-W families have been identified from monozygotic twin pairs with schizophrenia and patients with multiple sclerosis. Identification of retroviral RNA in the cerebrospinal fluids and brains of individuals with schizophrenia indicated that the transcriptional activation of the HERV-W elements within the central nervous system could be associated with the brain diseases. Here, we examined the expression of the HERV-W env gene in tumor/normal adjacent tissues and various areas of brain tissues. In silico expression data indicated that 14 complete HERV-W families from human chromosomes 1, 2, 4, 7, 8, 11, 13, 15, and Y are randomly expressed in various cancer tissues. HERV-W env transcripts did not show significant differences among the human tumor/normal adjacent tissues (colon, liver, uterus, breast, and stomach). Quantitative real-time RT-PCR analysis indicated that strong expression of the HERV-W env gene was detected in the cerebral cortex and pons of the human brain.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by a grant from the National R&D Program for Cancer Control, Ministry of Health & Welfare, Republic of Korea (0620150-1).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Biological Sciences, College of Natural Sciences, Pusan National University, Pusan, 609-735, Republic of Korea

    H.-S. Kim & K. Ahn

  2. PBBRC, Interdisciplinary Research Program of Bioinformatics, Pusan National University, Pusan, 609-735, Republic of Korea

    H.-S. Kim & D.-S. Kim

Authors
  1. H.-S. Kim
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  2. K. Ahn
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  3. D.-S. Kim
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Correspondence to H.-S. Kim.

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705_2008_159_MOESM1_ESM.ppt

Specificity confirmation of primer sets. The amplification specificity was checked by melting curve analysis. (a) HERV-W env in human normal and cancer tissues and (b) human brain different regions tissues showed sharp peaks at 80.5°C. These results indicated that non-specific PCR products with the primer sets were not detected in analyzed temperature range. (PPT 277 kb)

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Kim, HS., Ahn, K. & Kim, DS. Quantitative expression of the HERV-W env gene in human tissues. Arch Virol 153, 1587–1591 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00705-008-0159-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00705-008-0159-x

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