Porcine endogenous retrovirus integration sites in the human genome: features in common with those of murine leukemia virus.

ABSTRACT: Porcine endogenous retroviruses (PERV) are a major concern when porcine tissues and organs are used for xenotransplantation. PERV has been shown to infect human cells in vitro, highlighting a potential zoonotic risk. No pathology is associated with PERV in its natural host, but the pathogenic potential might differ in the case of cross-species transmission and can only be inferred from knowledge of related gammaretroviruses. We therefore investigated the integration features of the PERV DNA in the human genome in vitro in order to further characterize the risk associated with PERV transmission. In this study, we characterized 189 PERV integration site sequences from human HEK-293 cells. Data showed that PERV integration was strongly enhanced at transcriptional start sites and CpG islands a

SUBMITTER: Moalic Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1642138 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature