title: Endogenous retroviral transcripts in myocytes from spontaneously hypertensive rats.
abstract: The spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR) is a well studied animal model of genetic hypertension and heart disease of unknown cause. With the use of differential display, a transcript was found in SHR myocardium that on sequence analysis was identified as an endogenous retrovirus (ERV). ERV gene expression was greater than an order of magnitude increased in adult SHR hearts relative to age-matched normotensive Wistar-Kyoto rats and was further increased in hearts from SHR with heart failure. In situ hybridization studies demonstrated that increased ERV gene expression was localized to myocardial cells. Increases in ERV transcripts in SHR suggest a possible link between inherited proviral elements and genetic hypertensive heart disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, and Department of Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine, Massachusetts 02130, USA.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sirokman
authors.forename: D E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Humphries
authors.forename: O H
authors.initials: OH
authors.lastname: Bing
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D001345:Autoradiography; D015152:Blotting, Northern; D006321:Heart / Q000821:virology*; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000235:genetics; D006652:Histological Techniques; D006973:Hypertension / Q000235:genetics*; D017403:In Situ Hybridization; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009206:Myocardium / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D051381:Rats; D011918:Rats, Inbred SHR; D011921:Rats, Inbred WKY; D012190:Retroviridae / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D017423:Sequence Analysis, RNA; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
chemical_list: D012367:RNA, Viral