Human endogenous retroviruses: expression in various organs in vivo and its regulation in vitro.

To evaluate the role of human endogenous retroviruses in vivo, we examined their expressions in various organs from autopsy cases by Northern blot and RT-PCR. ERV3 (HERV-R) mRNA was expressed in many organs, and the level of expression in individuals and organs considerably differed. However, expression in the adrenal gland showed consistently high levels in every individual. lambda 4-1 (HERV-E) mRNA was expressed less compared with that of ERV3, and could not be detected in the adrenal gland by Northern blot, although the expression of lambda 4-1 generally correlated with that of ERV-3 in placentas. We also examined the effect of cytokines on the transcriptional regulation of ERV3 in vitro. Although the level of ERV3 expression in cultured synovial cells did not change after IL-1 beta treatment, the level in cultured proximal tubular epithelial cells was upregulated. The evidence suggests that distinct regulatory pathways may exist for the expression of human endogenous retroviruses in different cell types.