Endogenous retroviruses (ERVs) are involved in autoimmune diseases such as type 1 diabetes (T1D). ERV gene products homologous to murine leukemia retroviruses are expressed in the pancreatic islets of NOD mice, a model of T1D. One ERV gene, Gag, with partial or complete open reading frames (ORFs), is detected in the islets, and it contains many sequence variants. An amplicon deep sequencing analysis was established by targeting a conserved region within the Gag gene to compare NOD with T1D-resistant mice or different ages of prediabetic NOD mice. We observed that the numbers of different Gag variants and ORFs are linked to T1D susceptibility. More importantly, these numbers change during the course of diabetes development and can be quantified to calculate the levels of disease progression. Sequence alignment analysis led to identification of additional markers, including nucleotide mismatching and amino acid consensus at specific positions that can distinguish the early and late stages, before diabetes onset. Therefore, the expression of sequence variants and ORFs of ERV genes, particularly Gag, can be quantified as biomarkers to estimate T1D susceptibility and disease progression.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.4049/jimmunol.2300660 | DOI Listing |
Hepatology
January 2025
Center for Individualized Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA.
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View Article and Find Full Text PDFCornea
January 2025
Department of Ophthalmology, Edith Wolfson Medical Center, Holon, Israel.
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JAMA Netw Open
January 2025
Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Rockville, Maryland.
Importance: Sensitivity to environmental stress and adversity may influence lung cancer risk, highlighting a critical link between psychosocial factors and cancer etiology.
Objective: To evaluate whether genetically estimated sensitivity to environmental stress and adversity is associated with lung cancer risk.
Design, Setting, And Participants: Data were obtained from a genome-wide association study identifying 37 independent genetic variants strongly associated with sensitivity to environmental stress and adversity and a cross-ancestry genome-wide meta-analysis from the International Lung Cancer Consortium.
Epilepsia
January 2025
Applied Translational Neurogenomics Group, Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnology (VIB) Center for Molecular Neurology, VIB, Antwerp, Belgium.
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J Chem Inf Model
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Department of Grain Science and Industry, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas 66506, United States.
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