more about HERVs and HERV-W

[frodo]

This is a review. There is nothing new, but it is interesting to read:

Human Endogenous Retrovirus and Multiple Sclerosis: a review and transcriptome findings

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/a ... M-LgRPsUqY

It is specially interesting how HERVs were found

HERV-W and MS

Among all exogenous and endogenous viruses already investigated as putative MS triggers, HERVs from the W family (HERV-W) are the most likely candidate to be the missing link in MS pathogenesis.

Initial findings were first reported in the late '80s, when Perron and colleagues detected retroviral-like particles with reverse transcriptase activity from leptomeninges cells circulating in the Cerebrospinal Fluid (CSF) of MS patients. All these patients were negative for HIV and HTLV serological tests (Perron et al., 1989, Perron et al., 1991), indicating the presence of a different human retrovirus yet to be described. The virus genome was then cloned, characterized, and named as Multiple Sclerosis-associated Retrovirus (MSRV), which was later characterized as a virus from the HERV-W family (Komurian-Pradel et al., 1999).