title: Molecular analysis of endogenous retrovirus HRES-1: identification of frameshift mutations in region encoding putative 28-kDa autoantigen.
abstract: A possible involvement of HTLV-1-related endogenous sequence 1 (HRES-1) in autoimmune diseases has been recently reported. In primate cells, PCRs and RT-PCRs using specific primers reveal the presence and the transcription of gag-related sequences. However antisera generated against selected HRES-1 peptides failed to detect a 28-kDa protein deduced from the translated gag ORF and described previously. Such discordant results led us to perform DNA cloning and sequencing of LTR- and gag-related nucleotidic fragments. Repeated sequence analyses on distinct samples revealed frameshift mutations in the gag and LTR ORFs. Our sequence analyses detected a stop codon in the gag-related ORF, which is inconsistent with the expression of a 28-kDa protein. Instead of the two ORFs previously found, our gag-related region contained three ORFs. One of them demonstrated higher nucleotidic and peptidic homologies with the p19 gag of HTLV-I. However, the molecular analyses of our new sequence did not show evidence of potent translation capacities.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology-EA2686, Pôle Recherche, Place de Verdun, Lille Cedex, 59045, France. dilefranc@wanadoo.fr
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lefranc
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dubucquoi
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Almeras
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: De Seze
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Tourvieille
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Dussart
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Aubert
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Vermersch
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Prin
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001324:Autoantigens / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D001327:Autoimmune Diseases / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology* / Q000821:virology*; D001483:Base Sequence; D015415:Biomarkers; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics; D017931:DNA Primers / Q000235:genetics; D020077:Endogenous Retroviruses / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D016368:Frameshift Mutation; D015750:Genes, gag; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D008970:Molecular Weight; D016366:Open Reading Frames; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D020079:Terminal Repeat Sequences
chemical_list: D001324:Autoantigens; D015415:Biomarkers; D017931:DNA Primers; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D004247:DNA