Endogenous retrovirus Gag antigen and its gene variants are unique autoantigens expressed in the pancreatic islets of non-obese diabetic mice.

ABSTRACT: Endogenous retrovirus (ERV) are remnants of ancient retroviruses that have been incorporated into the genome and evidence suggests that they may play a role in the etiology of T1D. We previously identified a murine leukemia retrovirus-like ERV whose Env and Gag antigens are involved in autoimmune responses in non-obese diabetic (NOD) mice. In this study, we show that the Gag antigen is present in the islet stromal cells. Although Gag gene transcripts were present, Gag protein was not detected in diabetes-resistant mice. Cloning and sequencing analysis of individual Gag genes revealed that NOD islets express Gag gene variants with complete open-reading frames (ORFs), in contrast to the diabetes-resistant mice, whose islet Gag gene transcripts are mostly non-ORFs. Importantly, the ORFs obtai

SUBMITTER: Dai YD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7328525 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature