The potential role of human endogenous retrovirus K10 in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis: a preliminary study
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 15, 2026

An Adoptive Transfer Model of Rheumatoid Arthritis in Mice
Published on: June 6, 2025
H D Ejtehadi1, G L Freimanis, H A Ali
1Molecular Immunology Research Group, Research Institute in Healthcare Sciences, University of Wolverhampton, Wulfruna Street, Wolverhampton WV1 1SB, UK. h.ejtehadi@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.
Related Concept Videos
The JAK-STAT Signaling Pathway
Genome-wide Association Studies-GWAS
GWAS does not require the identification of the target gene involved in...
Non-LTR Retrotransposons
Mechanisms of Retrovirus-induced Cancers
