High Expression of HERV-K (HML-2) Might Stimulate Interferon in COVID-19 Patients

Overview

Journal Viruses

Publisher MDPI

Specialty Microbiology

Date 2022 May 28

PMID 35632738

Authors

Yaolin Guo

Caiqin Yang

Yongjian Liu

Tianyi Li

Hanping Li

Jingwan Han

Lei Jia

Xiaolin Wang

Bohan Zhang

Jingyun Li

Lin Li

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Interferon is a marker of host antiviral immunity, which is disordered in COVID-19 patients. ERV can affect the secretion of interferon through the cGAS-STING pathway. In this study, we explored whether IFN-I and HERV-K (HML-2) were activated in COVID-19 patients and whether there was an interaction between them. We collected blood samples from COVID-19 patients and healthy controls. We first detected the expression of HERV-K (HML-2) , , and genes and IFN-I-related genes between patients and healthy people by qPCR, synchronously detected VERO cells infected with SARS-CoV-2. Then, the chromosome distributions of highly expressed HERV-K (HML-2) , , and genes were mapped by the next-generation sequencing results, and GO analysis was performed on the related genes. We found that the HERV-K (HML-2) , , and genes were highly expressed in COVID-19 patients and VERO cells infected with SARS-CoV-2. The interferon-related genes , and were also activated in COVID-19 patients, and GO analysis showed that HERV-K (HML-2) can regulate the secretion of interferon. The high expression of HERV-K (HML-2) might activate the increase of interferon in COVID-19 patients, proving that HERV-K does not only play a negative role in the human body.

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