Epstein-Barr Virus-Induced Genes and Endogenous Retroviruses in Immortalized B Cells from Patients with Multiple Sclerosis

Autor: Lisa Wieland, Tommy Schwarz, Kristina Engel, Ines Volkmer, Anna Krüger, Alexander Tarabuko, Jutta Junghans, Malte E. Kornhuber, Frank Hoffmann, Martin S. Staege, Alexander Emmer
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2022
Předmět:
Zdroj: Cells, Vol 11, Iss 22, p 3619 (2022)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 2073-4409
DOI: 10.3390/cells11223619
Popis: The immune pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis (MS) is thought to be triggered by environmental factors in individuals with an unfavorable genetic predisposition. Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) infection is a major risk factor for subsequent development of MS. Human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs) can be activated by EBV, and might be a missing link between an initial EBV infection and the later onset of MS. In this study, we investigated differential gene expression patterns in EBV-immortalized lymphoblastoid B cell lines (LCL) from MS-affected individuals (MSLCL) and controls by using RNAseq and qRT-PCR. RNAseq data from LCL mapped to the human genome and a virtual virus metagenome were used to identify possible biomarkers for MS or disease-relevant risk factors, e.g., the relapse rate. We observed that lytic EBNA-1 transcripts seemed to be negatively correlated with age leading to an increased expression in LCL from younger PBMC donors. Further, HERV-K (HML-2) GAG was increased upon EBV-triggered immortalization. Besides the well-known transactivation of HERV-K18, our results suggest that another six HERV loci are up-regulated upon stimulation with EBV. We identified differentially expressed genes in MSLCL, e.g., several HERV-K loci, ERVMER61-1 and ERV3-1, as well as genes associated with relapses. In summary, EBV induces genes and HERV in LCL that might be suitable as biomarkers for MS or the relapse risk.
Databáze: Directory of Open Access Journals