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A ntibodies against a human endogenous retrovirus and the preponderance of env splice variants in multiple sclerosis patients

Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, University of Aarhus, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark, tc{at}microbiology.au.dk

P D Sørensen

Biotechnological Institute, Kogle Alle 2, DK-2970 Hørsholm, Denmark

H J Hansen

Department of Neurology, Aarhus University Hospital, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark

A Møller-Larsen

Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, University of Aarhus, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark

The human endogenous retrovirus HERV-H is associated with multiple sclerosis (MS). Previously performed reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reactio ns (RT-PC R) on virion-RNA demonstrated sequence variants of the HERV-H family located in the particulate fraction of MS patient plasma samples and not in controls. In this study a significantly elevated level of antibodies towards peptides derived from HERV-H/RGH-2 DNA sequences in serum and cerebrospinal fluid (C SF) from MS patients is demonstrated. Further, Wistar rats immunized with purified virions develop a specific serologic response, indicating that some virion proteins are encoded by HERV-H-related sequences. A lso shown is that in RNA from blood cells, a HERV-H protease-env splice variant can be found together with an env splice variant in about 40% of MS patients but only in 10% of controls. The results substantiate the association between activated HERV-H and MS, but a causal relationship is yet to be demonstrated. HERV-H could represent a causal factor either by eliciting an autoimmune response or through the pathogenic potential of the retrovirus itself.

Key Words: antibodies • C SF • ELISA • endogenous retrovirus • expression • HERV-H • multiple sclerosis • serology • virions

Multiple Sclerosis, Vol. 9, No. 1, 6-15 (2003)
DOI: 10.1191/1352458503ms867oa


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