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. 2025 Oct;61(5):629-633.
doi: 10.1007/s11262-025-02169-9. Epub 2025 Jun 26.

Elevated oncogene expressions in koala infected with multiple koala retrovirus subtypes: a preliminary study

Lipi Akter  1   2 , Md Abul Hashem  1   2   3 , Mohammad Enamul Hoque Kayesh  1   2   4 , Tofazzal Md Rakib  1   5 , Md Haroon Or Rashid  1   2 , Fumie Maetani  6   7 , Kyoko Tsukiyama-Kohara  8   9
Affiliations

Elevated oncogene expressions in koala infected with multiple koala retrovirus subtypes: a preliminary study

Lipi Akter et al. Virus Genes. 2025 Oct.

Erratum in

Abstract

Koala retrovirus (KoRV) causes multiple disease phenotypes in koalas, including carcinogenesis. The study aimed to assess oncogene expression in spleen tissues from ten deceased koalas coinfected with different subtypes and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from two subclinically coinfected koalas with KoRV-A and KoRV-B. Initially, KoRV subtyping involved amplifying endogenous KoRV-A, and exogenous KoRV-B, -C specific env gene fragments, followed by sequencing. Using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR), we examined five oncogenes (BCL2, BAX, BCL2L1, BCL3, and MYC) in spleen and PBMCs from dead and alive koalas coinfected with multiple KoRV subtypes, respectively. Significant (p < 0.05) increases in BCL2 and BAX oncogene expression were observed in deceased koalas that were coinfected with multiple KoRV subtypes compared with healthy koalas. Thus, this study highlights a potential link between KoRV subtype infections, oncogene expression, and koala diseases.

Keywords: BCL2; MYC; KoRV; Lymphoma; Oncogene.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests and funding. All authors declared that they have no conflict of interest.

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