Increased Antiretroviral Antibody Reactivity in Sera from a Defined Population of Patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Abstract

Objective. The implied role of retroviruses in the pathogenesis of murine systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) led us to study antiretroviral antibodies in a population-based SLE cohort.Methods. Immunoassays using whole virus and synthetic peptides were performed on sera from 72 patients with SLE and 88 control subjects.Results. Reactions with whole baboon endogenous virus occurred more frequently in patients with SLE, and correlated with the presence of anti-RNP and anti8m. Some retroviral env and gag peptides, several of which were similar to U1 small nuclear RNP, reacted Submitted for publication September 9, 1992; accepted in revised form June 10, 1993. more strongly in patients with SLE, and their presence was correlated with discoid rash, hematologic disorder, and other symptoms. Conclusion. These results provide circumstantial evidence for involvement of retroviruses in the pathogenesis of human SLE; further studies should be carried out using other techniques for measurement of retroviral expression.

Selective antibody reactivity with peptides from human endogenous retroviruses and nonviral poly(amino acids) in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus

“…Some of these sequences have been reported to be expressed as messenger RNA (16,22,(38)(39)(40) and also, possibly, as protein and particles (41)(42)(43)(44)(45). Antibodies to endogenous retroviruses occur in animals (46)(47)(48)(49), and the same seems to be true in humans (2,3,5). Hypothetically, an increased expression of retroviral RNA and protein leading to a greater exposure to retroviral antigens in SLE patients might yield antiretroviral antibodies.…”

Association of human endogenous retroviruses with multiple sclerosis and possible interactions with herpes viruses

“…Nevertheless, antibodies reactive with Gag or Env antigens from HERVs can be detected in human sera. Their levels are higher in patients with autoimmune disease [205][206][207][208][209][210], and they are predominantly IgGs [155,[208][209][210], whereas there appear to be little or no differences in anti-HERV IgMs. These findings could indicate that responses to HERVs are antigen-driven and may represent an early stage in the cascade of events considered to be a break of tolerance to autoantigens.…”

“…These findings could indicate that responses to HERVs are antigen-driven and may represent an early stage in the cascade of events considered to be a break of tolerance to autoantigens. Reactivity to Gag and Env epitopes encoded by exogenous retroviruses such as HIV and HTLV-1 has also been reported (also in schizophrenia [211]) and is thought to be driven by crossreactions to HERVs, or possibly other autoantigens [206,207,210,[212][213]. Increased reactivity to HERV encoded antigens has been found in HIVþ individuals [209,214].…”

“…Patients with SLE and Sjogren's syndrome commonly have elevated antibodies to HERV antigens, both towards short consensus peptides [206], and towards specific antigens such as HRES-1 Gag [91] and HERV-E Env [93].…”

“…The viral antigens were primarily in the form of inactivated virions. Several herpes viruses have been suggested as viral candidates in MS pathogenesis-primarily based on epidemiological and serological investigations 91,139,155,[206][207][208]212,215,220] Retroviruses and multiple sclerosis Retroviruses and multiple sclerosis 197 197 [reviewed in 230,231]. HSV-1 and VZV [231,232], and particularly EBV [231,[233][234][235]-also in paediatric MS patients [236]-and HHV-6A and HHV-6B [231,237] have been studied as factors in MS.…”