Human endogenous retroviruses and chosen disease parameters in morphea.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Morphea (localized scleroderma) is a relatively rare disease characterized by excessive skin fibrosis. Human endogenous retroviruses (HERV) are largely distributed within the human genome with hundreds of thousands of elements. The HERV have been widely studied in autoimmune disorders, yet hardly ever assessed in diseases with a good prognosis such as morphea.

Aim

In this study we focus on the possible relations between the expression of chosen HERV and factors influencing the pathomechanism of the disease, such as age, sex, titres of anti-nuclear antibodies, as well as duration, activity, and severity of the disease (LoSSI index).

Material and methods

Real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) targeting six HERV sequences of interest were performed on sam

SUBMITTER: Kowalczyk MJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5329106 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature