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. 2019 Nov 15;10(1):12.
doi: 10.1186/s13317-019-0122-8. eCollection 2019 Dec.

HERV-K and HERV-W transcriptional activity in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome

Lucas S Rodrigues #  1 , Luiz H da Silva Nali #  1   2 , Cibele O D Leal  1 , Ester C Sabino  1   3 , Eliana M Lacerda  4 , Caroline C Kingdon  4 , Luis Nacul  4 , Camila M Romano  1   5
Affiliations

HERV-K and HERV-W transcriptional activity in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome

Lucas S Rodrigues et al. Auto Immun Highlights. .

Abstract

Background: Chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/MS) is an incapacitating chronic disease that dramatically compromise the life quality. The CFS/ME pathogenesis is multifactorial, and it is believed that immunological, metabolic and environmental factors play a role. It is well documented an increased activity of Human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs) from different families in autoimmune and neurological diseases, making these elements good candidates for biomarkers or even triggers for such diseases.

Methods: Here the expression of Endogenous retroviruses K and W (HERV-K and HERV-W) was determined in blood from moderately and severely affected ME/CFS patients through real time PCR.

Results: HERV-K was overexpressed only in moderately affected individuals but HERV-W showed no difference.

Conclusions: This is the first report about HERV-K differential expression in moderate ME/CFS. Although the relationship between HERVs and ME/CFS has yet to be proven, the observation of this phenomenon deserves further attention.

Keywords: Chronic fatigue; Endogenous retroviruses; HERV-K; HERV-W; Myalgic encephalomyelitis.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interestsThe authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Boxplot of expression levels (in fold change) of HERVs among the groups. a HERV-K and b HERV-W. Significance between the groups (obtained by Wilcox test) is evidenced by an asterisk
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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