ABSTRACT
Previous studies had shown a correlation between infection with the human adeno-associated virus (AAV) and spontaneous abortion in early pregnancy. Furthermore, AAV DNA had been detected in cells of the human trophoblast lines, Jeg-3, JAr, and BeWo, in cells of the human amnion line, FL, and in trophoblasts from amnion fluids. Infectious AAV virions could be isolated from amnion fluids. To further analyse AAV infection during pregnancy, we tested material from Gestational Trophoblastic Disease for the presence of AAV DNA. With 63 tissue samples from patients from Brazil, including 49 hydatiform moles and 14 choriocarcinomas, nested PCR was performed to detect the presence of AAV DNA. In addition, 15 samples from spontaneous abortions were analysed. AAV DNA was found in 43 samples (28/49 hydatiform moles, 4/14 choriocarcinomas, 11/15 miscarriage material). These findings confirm AAV infection of embryo-derived tissue in humans and further suggest a role of AAV in miscarriage and trophoblastic disease.
Subject(s)
Choriocarcinoma/virology , Dependovirus/genetics , Hydatidiform Mole/virology , Parvoviridae Infections/complications , Uterine Neoplasms/virology , Abortion, Spontaneous/complications , Abortion, Spontaneous/virology , Adult , Choriocarcinoma/pathology , DNA Primers/chemistry , DNA Probes/chemistry , DNA, Viral/analysis , Dependovirus/isolation & purification , Female , Humans , Hydatidiform Mole/pathology , Parvoviridae Infections/pathology , Parvoviridae Infections/virology , Polymerase Chain Reaction , Pregnancy , Uterine Neoplasms/pathologyABSTRACT
ERV3 (HERV-R) is a complete human endogenous retrovirus located on the long arm of chromosome 7. It is expressed in several human tissues as LTR env spliced transcripts (9 and 3.5 kb). The highest level of expression is to be found in placenta and virus expression is down-regulated in choriocarcinoma cell lines. By means of in situ hybridization, the expression of ERV3 env was studied in selected human reproductive and embryonic tissues. It is concluded that (a) ERV3 env is expressed in syncytiotrophoblasts not only in the placenta but also in hydatidiform moles and choriocarcinomas (irrespective of origin) (b) ERV3 expression in placenta correlates to cell fusion but probably not to the fertilization process itself (c) ERV3 env is highly expressed in certain cells in spermatogenesis but not in the Sertoli or Leydig cells, and finally (d) ERV3 env is expressed in certain embryonic tissues such as the adrenal gland and nervous tissues.
