ERV3 (HERV-R) is a complete human endogenous retrovirus located on the long arm of chromosome 7. LTR-env-gene-spliced mRNA of 9 and 3.5 Kb is widely expressed in human tissues and cells, but gag-pol mRNA has not been found. Further, the env gp70 gene contains an open reading frame throughout its length and its expression has recently been detected as a full-length protein. The highest expression of ERV3 detected so far is in placenta and the lowest in cytotrophoblasts and choriocarcinoma cell lines. In this report we have studied ERV3 mRNA and protein expression in the human monoblastic cell line U-937 during differentiation into monocytes/macrophages. Differentiation of U-937 cells was induced by 1,25a-dihydroxyvitamin D₃ (vitD₃), retinoic acid (RA), gamma interferon (IFN-γ) and phorbol-myristate-acetate (PMA-TPA). The expression of ERV3 env mRNA was found to be differentiation-associated, with high expression detected in the late stages of monocytic development. Using TPA, the expression of ERV3 env was detected as 9- and 3.5-kb transcripts by Northern blotting, as mRNA by in situ hybridization and as a cytoplasmic 65-kDa protein by immunofluorescence and Western blots. Low levels of basal expression were found, with up-regulation of both message and protein at 24 to 48 hr after addition of TPA. Induction with vitD₃, IFN-γ and RA produced higher levels of mRNA at earlier time points. It is concluded that the U-937 cell line represents an excellent model system for further studies to study the relationship between ERV3 expression and cellular differentiation. © 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

References

Andersson, A-C., Merza, M., Venables, P. J. W., Ponten, F. M., Cohen, M. and Larsson, E., Elevated levels of the endogenous retrovirus ERV3 in human sebaceous glands. J. invest. Dermatol., 106, 125–128 (1996).
10.1111/1523-1747.ep12329612
CAS PubMed Web of Science® Google Scholar
Boyd, M., Bax, C., Bax, B., Bloxam, D. and Weiss, R., The human endogenous retrovirus ERV3 is up-regulated in differentiating placental trophoblast cells. Virology, 196, 905–909 (1993).
10.1006/viro.1993.1556
CAS PubMed Web of Science® Google Scholar
Coffin, J., Genetic diversity and evolution of retroviruses. Curr. Top. Microbiol. Immunol., 176, 143–155 (1992).
10.1007/978-3-642-77011-1_10
CAS PubMed Web of Science® Google Scholar
Cohen, M. and Larsson, E., Human endogenous retroviruses. Bioessays, 9, 191–196 (1988).
10.1002/bies.950090603
CAS PubMed Web of Science® Google Scholar
Cohen, M., Powers, M., O'Connell, C. and Kato, N., The nucleotide sequence of the env gene from the human provirus ERV3 and isolation and characterization of an ERV3-specific cDNA. Virology, 147, 449–458 (1985).
10.1016/0042-6822(85)90147-3
CAS PubMed Web of Science® Google Scholar
Holmgren, L., Flam, F., Larsson, E. and Ohlsson, R., Successive activation of the platelet-derived growth-factor-B receptor and platelet-derived growth-factor-B genes correlates with the genesis of human choriocarcinoma. Cancer Res., 53, 2927–2931 (1993).
CAS PubMed Web of Science® Google Scholar
Kannan, P., Buettner, R., Pratt, D. R. and Tainsky, M. A., Induction of a retinoic-acid-induced endogenous retroviral transcript in the human teratocarcinoma-derived cell line PA-1. J. Virol., 65, 6343–6348 (1991).
CAS PubMed Web of Science® Google Scholar
Kato, N., Larsson, E. and Cohen, M., Absence of expression of a human endogenous retrovirus is correlated with choriocarcinoma. Int. J. Cancer, 41, 380–385 (1988).
10.1002/ijc.2910410310
CAS PubMed Web of Science® Google Scholar
Kato, N., Pfeifer-Ohlsson, S., Kato, N., Larsson, E., Ohlsson, R. and Cohen, M., Tissue-specific expression of human provirus ERV3 mRNA in human placenta: two of three ERV3 mRNAs contain human cellular sequences. J. Virol., 61, 2182–2191 (1987).
CAS PubMed Web of Science® Google Scholar
Kato, N., Shimotono, K., Van Leeuwen, D. and Cohen, M., Human proviral mRNAs down-regulated in choriocarcinoma encode a zinc finger protein related to Kruppel. Mol. cell. Biol., 10, 4401–4405 (1990).
10.1128/MCB.10.8.4401
CAS PubMed Web of Science® Google Scholar
Krieg, A. and Steinberg, A., Retroviruses and autoimmunity. J. Autoimmunity, 3, 137–150 (1990).
10.1016/0896-8411(90)90137-H
CAS PubMed Web of Science® Google Scholar
Larsson, E., Kato, N. and Cohen, M., Human endogenous proviruses. Curr. Top. Microbiol. Immunol., 148, 115–132 (1989).
10.1007/978-3-642-74700-7_4
CAS PubMed Web of Science® Google Scholar
Leib-Mösch, C., Brack, R., Werner, T., Bachmann, M., Faff, O., Erfle, V. and Hehlmann, R., Endogenous retroviral elements in human DNA. Cancer Res., 50, (Suppl. I) 563–570 (1990).
PubMed Web of Science® Google Scholar
Löwer, R., Boller, K., Hasenmaier, B., Korbmacher, C., Müller-Lantzsch, N., Löwer, J. and Kurth, R., Identification of human endogenous retrovirus with complex mRNA expression and particle formation. Proc. nat. Acad. Sci. (Wash.), 90, 4480–4486 (1993).
10.1073/pnas.90.10.4480
CAS PubMed Web of Science® Google Scholar
Öberg, F. and Nilsson, K., Differentiation- and activation-associated expression of IL-6 and IL-6 receptors in U-937 monocytic cells: relationship to the expression of CD14. Growth Factors, 7, 85–96 (1992).
10.3109/08977199209023940
CAS PubMed Google Scholar
Öberg, F., Botling, J. and Nilsson, K., Macrophages and the cytokine network. Transplant. Proc., 225, 2044–2047 (1993a).
Google Scholar
Öberg, F., Botling, J. and Nilsson, K., Functional antagonism between vitamin D₃ and retinoic acid and the regulation of CD14 and CD23 expression during monocytic differentiation of U-937 cells. J. Immunol., 150, 3487–3495 (1993b).
PubMed Web of Science® Google Scholar
O'Brien, S. J., Berman, E. J., Estes, J. D. and Gardner, M. B., Murine retroviral restriction genes FV4 and Akvr-1 are alleles of a single locus. J. Virol., 47, 649–656 (1983).
CAS PubMed Web of Science® Google Scholar
O'Connell, C., O'Brien, S., Nash, W. and Cohen, M., ERV3, a full-length human endogenous provirus: chromosomal localization and evolutionary relationships. Virology, 138, 225–235 (1984).
10.1016/0042-6822(84)90347-7
CAS PubMed Web of Science® Google Scholar
Schiff, R., Itin, A. and Keshet, E., Transcriptional activation of mouse retrotransposons in vivo: specific expression in steroidogenic cells in response to trophic hormones. Genes Dev., 5, 521–532 (1991).
10.1101/gad.5.4.521
CAS PubMed Web of Science® Google Scholar
Sluyser, M., Verstraeten, R. A. and Van Nie, R., Effect of hormones on the expression of proviral genes Mtv-2 and Mtv-3 in mouse mammary gland. Int. J. Cancer, 31, 217–221 (1983).
10.1002/ijc.2910310214
CAS PubMed Web of Science® Google Scholar
Takeuchi, K., Katsumata, K., Ikeda, H., Minami, M., Wakisaka, A. and Yoshiki, T., Expression of endogenous retroviruses, ERV3 and lambda-4-1, in synovial tissues from patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Clin. exp. Immunol., 99, 338–344 (1995).
10.1111/j.1365-2249.1995.tb05555.x
CAS PubMed Web of Science® Google Scholar
Venables, P. J. W., Brookes, S. M., Griffiths, D., Weiss, R. A. and Boyd, M. T., Abundance of an endogenous retroviral envelope protein in placental trophoblasts suggests a biological function. Virology, 211, 589–592 (1995).
10.1006/viro.1995.1442
CAS PubMed Web of Science® Google Scholar
Weiss, R. A., Cellular receptors and viral glycoproteins involved in retrovirus entry. In: J. A. Levy (ed.), The retroviridae, 2, pp. 1–108, Plenum Press, New York (1993).
10.1007/978-1-4899-1627-3_1
Google Scholar
Wilkinson, D., Mager, D. and Leong, J. C., Endogenous human retroviruses. In: J. A. Levy (ed.), The retroviridae, 3, pp. 465–535, Plenum Press, New York (1994).
10.1007/978-1-4899-1730-0_9
Google Scholar

Citing Literature

Volume67, Issue3

29 July 1996

Pages 451-456

Expression of the endogenous retrovirus ERV3 (HERV-R) during induced monocytic differentiation in the U-937 cell line

Abstract

References

Citing Literature

References

Information

About Wiley Online Library

Help & Support

Opportunities

Connect with Wiley

Expression of the endogenous retrovirus ERV3 (HERV-R) during induced monocytic differentiation in the U-937 cell line

Abstract

References

Citing Literature

References

Related

Information