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Link to original content: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25734056/
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. 2015:2015:164529.
doi: 10.1155/2015/164529. Epub 2015 Feb 5.

Transcriptional activity of human endogenous retroviruses in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells

Emanuela Balestrieri  1 , Francesca Pica  1 , Claudia Matteucci  1 , Rossella Zenobi  1 , Roberta Sorrentino  1 , Ayele Argaw-Denboba  1 , Chiara Cipriani  1 , Ilaria Bucci  1 , Paola Sinibaldi-Vallebona  2
Affiliations

Transcriptional activity of human endogenous retroviruses in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells

Emanuela Balestrieri et al. Biomed Res Int. 2015.

Abstract

Human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs) have been implicated in human physiology and in human pathology. A better knowledge of the retroviral transcriptional activity in the general population and during the life span would greatly help the debate on its pathologic potential. The transcriptional activity of four HERV families (H, K, W, and E) was assessed, by qualitative and quantitative PCR, in PBMCs from 261 individuals aged from 1 to 80 years. Our results show that HERV-H, HERV-K, and HERV-W, but not HERV-E, are transcriptionally active in the test population already in the early childhood. In addition, the transcriptional levels of HERV-H, HERV-K, and HERV-W change significantly during the life span, albeit with distinct patterns. Our results, reinforce the hypothesis of a physiological correlation between HERVs activity and the different stages of life in humans. Studies aiming at identifying the factors, which are responsible for these changes during the individual's life, are still needed. Although the observed phenomena are presumably subjected to great variability, the basal transcriptional activity of each individual, also depending on the different ages of life, must be carefully considered in all the studies involving HERVs as causative agents of disease.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
HERV-W transcription activity in human PBMCs, by qualitative RT-PCR. An example of agarose gel analysis is shown. Briefly, RNA from human PBMCs was retrotranscribed and amplified by RT-PCR, using degenerated primers to assess the different virus types belonging to HERV-W family; samples in which PCR products could be visualized were defined as positive for HERV-W expression (lanes 2, 3, 4, and 6), while samples in which no specific band could be detected were defined as negative (lanes 1 and 5).
Figure 2
Figure 2
HERV-H, HERV-K, and HERV-W transcriptional levels in human PBMCs. Data are represented as box plot, depicting mild (black dot) and extreme outliers (asterisk). Relative env levels were analyzed by real-time PCR and represented by 2−ΔΔCt in logarithmic scale.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Correlation of HERV-H, HERV-K, or HERV-W env levels with the age of the subjects. HERV-H, HERV-K, and HERV-W transcriptional levels are plotted as a function of corresponding age in years. The age median value of the age-group (18–39) was used as a cut-point (left panel: <30; right panel: ≥30). See Results section for correlation Spearman analysis details. env levels were analyzed by real-time PCR and represented by 2−ΔΔCt in logarithmic scale.
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