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Updated: Oct 4, 2025

Quantitative Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization FISH and Immunofluorescence IF of Specific Gene Products in KSHV-Infected Cells
Published on: August 27, 2019
Endogenous human retrovirus-K is not increased in the affected tissues of Japanese ALS patients
Tomohiko Ishihara1, Akihide Koyama2, Yuya Hatano3
1Department of Neurology, Clinical Neuroscience Branch, Brain Research Institute, Niigata University, Niigata, Japan; Department of Molecular Neuroscience, Resource Branch for Brain Disease Research, Center for Bioresource-based Research, Brain Research Institute, Niigata University, Niigata, Japan.
Abstract:
Activation of human endogenous retrovirus-K (HERV-K) is one of the proposed risk factors for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The HERV-K envelope protein has been reported to show neurotoxicity, and development of therapy with reverse transcriptase inhibitors is being investigated. On the other hand, some reports have failed to show HERV-K activation in ALS. In this study, we analyzed the expression of HERV-K mRNA in the motor cortex and spinal cord of 15 Japanese patients with sporadic ALS and 19 controls using reverse transcriptase droplet digital PCR. This revealed no significant increase of HERV-K expression in ALS-affected tissues, suggesting that the association between ALS and HERV-K remains questionable.
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