Department of Public Health and Pediatric Sciences, Citoimmunodiagnostic Laboratory, School of Medicine, University of Turin, Turin 10136, Italy; Department of Pediatrics and Infectious Diseases, School of Medicine, University of Turin, Regina Margherita Children' s Hospital, Piazza Polonia 94, Turin 10126, Italy.
Department of Public Health and Pediatric Sciences, Citoimmunodiagnostic Laboratory, School of Medicine, University of Turin, Turin 10136, Italy; Department of Pediatrics and Infectious Diseases, School of Medicine, University of Turin, Regina Margherita Children' s Hospital, Piazza Polonia 94, Turin 10126, Italy.
Infect Genet Evol. 2019 Mar;68:273-279. doi: 10.1016/j.meegid.2018.12.018. Epub 2018 Dec 19.
Human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs) have been studied in relation to the onset and/or progression of several diseases. However, increasing evidence highlights that they also have important physiologic roles, for instance they are involved in preimplantation embryonic growth and in placentation. We assessed the transcriptional activity of HERVs in PBMCs of healthy newborns, infants and children to gather further information on their potential physiological roles. mRNA expression of HERV-H, K and W was evaluated in PBMCs of 63 preterm newborns, 47 term newborns, 38 infants (1-24 months of age), and 36 children (25-131 months of age) using a PCR real time Taqman amplification assay and normalization to glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH). The expression levels of HERV-H, K, and W were significantly higher at birth than in infancy and childhood. Furthermore, HERV activation was highest in preterm newborns and a significant inverse correlation was found between HERV transcripts and duration of pregnancy. The overexpression of HERVs at birth in inversed correlation with gestational age are further clues of their potential involvement in early life events.
人类内源性逆转录病毒（HERV）的研究与几种疾病的发生和/或进展有关。然而，越来越多的证据强调，它们也具有重要的生理作用，例如它们参与着床前胚胎生长和胎盘形成。我们评估了健康新生儿、婴儿和儿童 PBMC 中 HERV 的转录活性，以收集有关其潜在生理作用的更多信息。使用 PCR 实时 Taqman 扩增检测和甘油醛-3-磷酸脱氢酶（GAPDH）归一化，评估了 63 例早产儿、47 例足月新生儿、38 例婴儿（1-24 个月龄）和 36 例儿童（25-131 个月龄）PBMC 中 HERV-H、K 和 W 的 mRNA 表达。HERV-H、K 和 W 的表达水平在出生时明显高于婴儿期和儿童期。此外，HERV 激活在早产儿中最高，并且 HERV 转录物与妊娠持续时间之间存在显著的负相关。与胎龄呈负相关的 HERV 在出生时的过度表达是其潜在参与生命早期事件的进一步线索。
