HIV-1 infection leads to increased transcription of human endogenous retrovirus HERV-K (HML-2) proviruses in vivo but not to increased virion production.

ABSTRACT:

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Recent studies suggest that human endogenous retrovirus group K (HERV-K) provirus expression plays a role in the pathogenesis of HIV-1 infection. In particular, RNA from the HML-2 subgroup of HERV-K proviruses has been reported to be highly expressed at the cellular level and detectable in the plasma of HIV-1-infected patients, suggestive of virion production and, perhaps, replication. In this study, we developed an HML-2-specific quantitative-PCR assay that detects 51 of the 89 known HML-2 proviruses in the human genome. Plasma and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from HIV-negative controls and HIV-1-infected patients were collected for analysis of HML-2 RNA expression. Contrary to previous reports, we did not detect high levels of HML-2 RNA in the plasma of H

SUBMITTER: Bhardwaj N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4178833 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature