endogenous retrovirus
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Introduction
Retroviruses are RNA viruses that make DNA copies of themselves & integrate into the DNA of hosts they infect.
Etiology
- endogenous retroviruses are relics of ancient infections that affected the primate germ line in the last 100 million years[3]
Epidemiology
- about 8% of the human genome is composed of these ancient retroviral genes
- apparently they cannot reform the retroviruses from which they came
Function
- it had been generally assumed they are simply evolutionary detritus without role in physiology or pathogenesis of disease
- endogenous retroviruses may play a role in the innate immune response[3]
Structure
where:
- LTR is long-terminal repeat (5')
- MA is gag matrix
- NC is nucleocapsid
- PR is pro-pol protease
- RT is reverse transcriptase
- IN is integrase
- SU is env surface
- TM is transmembrane
- LTR is long-terminal repeat (3')
Pathology
- activation or unsilencing of certain retroviral genes in B lymphocytes may play a role in
- CSF1R transcription in transformed B cells activates aberrant expression of retroviral long-terminal repeat (LTR) THE1B
- LTR-THE1B expression occurs with loss of expression of corepressor CBFA2T3[2]
Comparative biology
- in the mouse, endogenous provirus DNA comprises up to 0.4% of the genome
More general terms
More specific terms
References
- ↑ Mendelian Inheritance in Man 1990 MIM#131170
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lamprecht B et al Derepression of an endogenous long terminal repeat activates the CSF1R proto-oncogene in human lymphoma. Nat Med 2010 May; 16:571. PMID: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20436485
Engel ME and Hiebert SW. The enemy within: Dormant retroviruses awaken. Nat Med 2010 May; 16:517. PMID: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20448571 - ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Grandi N, Tramontano E. Human Endogenous Retroviruses Are Ancient Acquired Elements Still Shaping Innate Immune Responses. Frontiers in Immunology, 2018. Sept 10 PMID: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30250470 PMCID: PMC6139349 Free PMC article