Inhibition of human endogenous retrovirus-K by antiretroviral drugs.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs) are genomic sequences of retroviral origin which were believed to be integrated into germline chromosomes millions of years ago and account for nearly 8% of the human genome. Although mostly defective and inactive, some of the HERVs may be activated under certain physiological and pathological conditions. While no drugs are designed specifically targeting HERVs, there are a panel of antiretroviral drugs designed against the human immunodeficiency virus and approved by the Federal Drug Administration (FDA).

Results

We determined if these antiretroviral drugs may also be effective in inhibiting HERVs. We constructed a plasmid with consensus HERV-K sequence for testing the effect of antiretroviral drugs on HERV-K. We first determ

SUBMITTER: Tyagi R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5361811 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature