Contreras-Galindo Rafael, Kaplan Mark H, Markovitz David M, Lorenzo Eric, Yamamura Yasuhiro
AIDS Research Program, Ponce School of Medicine, Ponce, Puerto Rico 00716.
AIDS Res Hum Retroviruses. 2006 Oct;22(10):979-84. doi: 10.1089/aid.2006.22.979.
Approximately 8% of the human genome sequence is composed by human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs), most of which are defective. HERV-K(HML-2) is the youngest and most active family and has maintained some proviruses with intact open reading frames (ORFs) that code for viral proteins that may assemble into viral particles. Many HERV-K(HML-2) sequences are polymorphic in humans (present in some individuals but not in others) and probably many others may be unfixed (not inserted permanently in a specific chromosomal location of the human genome). In the present study HIV-1 and HCV-1-positive plasma samples were screened for the presence of HERV-K(HML-2) RNA in an RT-PCR using HERV-K pol specific primers. HERV-K(HML-2) viral RNA sequences were found almost universally in HIV-1(+) plasma samples (95.33%) but were rarely detected in HCV-1 patients (5.2%) or control subjects (7.69%). Other HERV-K(HML-2) viral segments of the RNA genome including gag, prt, and both env regions, surface (su), and transmembrane (tm) were amplified from HERV-K pol-positive plasma of HIV-1 patients. Type 1 and type 2 HERV-K(HML- 2) viral RNA genomes were found to coexist in the same plasma of HIV-1 patients. These results suggest the HERV-K(HML-2) viral particles are induced in HIV-1-infected individuals.
大约8%的人类基因组序列由人类内源性逆转录病毒（HERV）组成，其中大多数是有缺陷的。HERV-K（HML-2）是最年轻且最活跃的家族，并且保留了一些具有完整开放阅读框（ORF）的前病毒，这些开放阅读框编码可能组装成病毒颗粒的病毒蛋白。许多HERV-K（HML-2）序列在人类中具有多态性（存在于一些个体中但不存在于其他个体中），并且可能还有许多其他序列尚未固定（未永久插入人类基因组的特定染色体位置）。在本研究中，使用HERV-K pol特异性引物通过RT-PCR筛选HIV-1和HCV-1阳性血浆样本中HERV-K（HML-2）RNA的存在情况。几乎在所有HIV-1（+）血浆样本（95.33%）中都发现了HERV-K（HML-2）病毒RNA序列，但在HCV-1患者（5.2%）或对照受试者（7.69%）中很少检测到。从HIV-1患者的HERV-K pol阳性血浆中扩增出RNA基因组的其他HERV-K（HML-2）病毒片段，包括gag、prt以及两个env区域，即表面（su）和跨膜（tm）区域。发现1型和2型HERV-K（HML-2）病毒RNA基因组共存于HIV-1患者的同一血浆中。这些结果表明HERV-K（HML-2）病毒颗粒在HIV-1感染个体中被诱导产生。
