Human T-cell lymphotropic virus (HTLV)-related endogenous sequence, HRES-1, encodes a 28-kDa protein: a possible autoantigen for HTLV-I gag-reactive autoantibodies.
The presence of a human T-cell lymphotropic virus (HTLV)-related endogenous sequence, HRES-1, in the human genome has been documented. The HRES-1 genomic locus is transcriptionally active and contains open reading frames. Antibodies 232 and 233, specific for synthetic peptides pep14-24 and pep117-127, corresponding to two nonoverlapping HTLV-related regions in the longer open reading frame of HRES-1, recognize an identical 28-kDa protein in H9 human T cells. Thus, HRES-1 is a human endogenous retroviral sequence capable of protein expression. HRES-1/p28 is localized to the cytoplasm and nuclear bodies. While HTLV-I-specific antibodies react with HRES-1 peptides, antibody 233 cross-reacts with HTLV-I gag p24 protein. Three consecutive highly charged amino acid residues, Arg-Arg-Glu, present in both HRES-1 pep117-127 and HTLV-I gag p24 are likely to be the core of cross-reactive epitopes. The prevalence of antibodies to HRES-1 peptides pep14-24 and pep117-127 was determined in 65 normal blood donors and 146 patients with immunological disorders. Sera of patients with multiple sclerosis (19 out of 65, 29%), progressive systemic sclerosis (4 out of 17, 23%), systemic lupus erythematosus (4 out of 19, 21%), and Sjogren syndrome (2 out of 19, 10%) contained significantly higher HRES-1 peptide binding activity than sera of normal donors. Sera of patients with AIDS showed no specific binding to HRES-1 peptides. Nine of 30 HRES-1-seropositive patients showed immunoreactivity to HTLV-I gag p24. The data indicate that HRES-1/p28 may serve as an autoantigen eliciting autoantibodies cross-reactive with HTLV-I gag antigens.
Department of Molecular Medicine and Immunology, Roswell Park Memorial Institute, Buffalo, NY 14263.
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Banki
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Maceda
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Hurley
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Ablonczy
D H
DH
Mattson
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Szegedy
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Hung
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Perl
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000032:analysis*; D001324:Autoantigens / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D003429:Cross Reactions; D015480:Deltaretrovirus Antibodies / Q000276:immunology*; D015368:Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007154:Immune System Diseases / Q000276:immunology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D015682:Retroviridae Proteins, Oncogenic / Q000276:immunology; D016662:Virus Integration
D001323:Autoantibodies; D001324:Autoantigens; D015480:Deltaretrovirus Antibodies; D015682:Retroviridae Proteins, Oncogenic; C060954:p24 protein, Human T-lymphotropic virus 1