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The potential role of human endogenous retrovirus K10 in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis: a preliminary study

H D Ejtehadi¹, G L Freimanis¹, H A Ali², S Bowman³, A Alavi⁴, J Axford⁴, R Callaghan⁵, P N Nelson¹

¹ Research Institute in Healthcare Sciences, University of Wolverhampton, Wolverhampton, UK
² Department of Rheumatology, New Cross Hospital, Wolverhampton, UK
³ Department of Rheumatology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
⁴ Department of Rheumatology, St George’s Hospital, London, UK
⁵ Heartlands Hospital, Birmingham, UK

Correspondence to:
Hora Davari Ejtehadi
Molecular Immunology Research Group, Research Institute in Healthcare Sciences, University of Wolverhampton, Wulfruna Street, Wolverhampton WV1 1SB, UK; h.ejtehadi{at}wlv.ac.uk

Objective: To examine whether human endogenous retrovirus K10 is associated with autoimmune rheumatic disease.

Design: A novel multiplex reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) system was developed to investigate HERV-K10 mRNA expression in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Methods: 40 patients with rheumatoid arthritis, 17 with osteoarthritis, and 27 healthy individuals were recruited and total RNA was extracted from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and analysed using multiplex RT-PCR for the level of HERV-K10 gag mRNA expression. Southern blot and DNA sequencing confirmed the authenticity of the PCR products.

Results: Using the histidyl tRNA synthetase (HtRNAS) gene as a housekeeping gene in the optimised multiplex RT-PCR, a significantly higher level of HERV-K10 gag mRNA expression was found in rheumatoid arthritis than in osteoarthritis (p = 0.01) or in the healthy controls (p = 0.02).

Conclusion: There is enhanced mRNA expression of the HERV-K10 gag region in rheumatoid arthritis compared with osteoarthritis or healthy controls. This could contribute to the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis.

Abbreviations: HERV, human endogenous retrovirus; HTLV, human T cell lymphotropic virus; HtRNAS, histidyl tRNA synthetase; NSAID, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug; PBMC, peripheral blood mononuclear cell; RT-PCR, reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction

Keywords: human endogenous retroviruses; rheumatoid arthritis; peripheral blood mononuclear cells; histidyl tRNA synthetase

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