Cytokine regulation of env gene expression of human endogenous retrovirus-R in human vascular endothelial cells - PubMed (original) (raw)
Cytokine regulation of env gene expression of human endogenous retrovirus-R in human vascular endothelial cells
K Katsumata et al. Clin Immunol. 1999 Oct.
Abstract
To determine whether human endogenous retroviruses are implicated in the pathogenesis of inflammatory vascular diseases of unknown etiology, we examined mRNA expression of a human endogenous retrovirus, HERV-R, which has a long open reading frame in the env region, in cultured human vascular endothelial and smooth muscle cells stimulated in the presence of various cytokines. mRNA of HERV-R was always evident in these cells but not in fibroblastic cells. Levels of expression in vascular endothelial cells were significantly regulated by treatment with tumor necrosis factor-alpha, interleukin (IL)-1alpha, and IL-1beta as up-regulators and interferon-gamma as a down-regulator. These observations are interpreted to mean that HERV-R expression may be up- or down-regulated at sites of inflammation in vessels in vivo and hence may play a pathogenetic role in inflammatory vascular diseases in humans, perhaps similar to endogenous retroviruses in mouse models of polyarteritis nodosa in humans.
Copyright 1999 Academic Press.
Publication types
MeSH terms
Substances
LinkOut - more resources
Full Text Sources
Research Materials