Retroviral particles and autoimmunity

PubMed, the Internet portal of biomedical and life sciences literature, indexed an interesting article, entitled ”Involvement of human intracisternal A-type retroviral particles in autoimmunity” (Microsc Res Tech. 2005 Nov 7;68(3-4):222-234). Authors are Sander DM, Szabo S, Gallaher WR et al. from the Tulane University Health Sciences Center, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. Prior studies have linked retroviruses to various arthropathies and autoimmune diseases. Sjogren’s syndrome (SS), a systemic autoimmune disease, is characterized by aggressive infiltration of lymphocytes into the salivary and lacrimal glands. The infiltrating lymphocytes in SS may become overtly malignant. A human intracisternal A-type retroviral particle type I (HIAP-I) has been isolated from persons with SS. A substantial majority of patients with SS or systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) have serum antibodies to the proteins of this human retrovirus. Reviewed here are additional studies from several laboratories suggesting that HIAP or related viruses may be involved in SLE and other autoimmune conditions. To access the abstract of the article, click here.