title: Silencing of endogenous envelope genes in human choriocarcinoma cells shows that envPb1 is involved in heterotypic cell fusions.
abstract: Syncytin-1 and envPb1 are two conserved envelope genes in the human genome encoded by single loci from the HERV-W and -Pb families, respectively. To characterize the role of these envelope proteins in cell-cell fusion, we have developed lentiviral vectors that express short hairpin RNAs for stable knockdown of syncytin-1 and envPb1. Analysis of heterotypic fusion activity between trophoblast-derived choriocarcinoma BeWo cells, in which syncytin-1 and envPb1 are specifically silenced, and endothelial cells demonstrated that both syncytin-1 and envPb1 are important to fusion. The ability to fuse cells makes syncytin-1 and envPb1 attractive candidate molecules in therapy against cancer. Our available vectors may help eventually to decipher roles for these genes in human health and/or disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus DK-8000, Denmark.|Division of Molecular Biology, Beckman Research Institute of the City of Hope, Duarte, CA 91010, USA.
authors.forename: Lars
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Aagaard
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Institute of Animal and Veterinary Basic Sciences, Copenhagen University, Frederiksberg DK-1870, Denmark.|Division of Molecular Biology, Beckman Research Institute of the City of Hope, Duarte, CA 91010, USA.
authors.forename: Bolette
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bjerregaard
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University, Aarhus DK-8000, Denmark.
authors.forename: Anders L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Kjeldbjerg
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University, Aarhus DK-8000, Denmark.
authors.forename: Finn Skou
authors.initials: FS
authors.lastname: Pedersen
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Institute of Animal and Veterinary Basic Sciences, Copenhagen University, Frederiksberg DK-1870, Denmark.
authors.forename: Lars-Inge
authors.initials: LI
authors.lastname: Larsson
authors.affiliation: Division of Molecular Biology, Beckman Research Institute of the City of Hope, Duarte, CA 91010, USA.
authors.forename: John J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Rossi
mesh_terms: D002459:Cell Fusion; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D002822:Choriocarcinoma / Q000378:metabolism*; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D042783:Endothelial Cells; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D055785:Gene Knockdown Techniques; D015686:Gene Products, env / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D020868:Gene Silencing; D006801:Humans; D009687:Nuclear Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D011257:Pregnancy Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D012190:Retroviridae / Q000235:genetics*; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D015686:Gene Products, env; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; C102195:PBRM1 protein, human; D011257:Pregnancy Proteins; D014157:Transcription Factors; C405335:syncytin