| Budget Amount *help |
¥3,100,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,100,000)
Fiscal Year 1999: ¥1,100,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,100,000)
Fiscal Year 1998: ¥2,000,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,000,000)
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| Research Abstract |
Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease affecting primarily the central nervous system, whose etiologies has remained unknow. Perron et al have recently identified a novel human endogenous retrovirus (MSRV) in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). We examined whether MSRV RNA can also be detected in Japanese MS patients. RNA was isolated from plasma of Japanese MS patients. After treatment with DNase I, RNA samples were used for RT-PCR which amplifes the pol region of MSRV. Genomic DNA, which was isolated from neutrophils, was used for PCR as control. PCR products were run on an agarose gel, transferred by Southern blotting and hybridized with the probe of MSRV pol region. The pol region of MSRV was amplified from genomic DNA by PCR from all the individuals tested. On the other hand, we could not amplify the MSRV sequence by RT-PCR, from plasma RNA samplesin in MS patients. Further studies are necessary to clarify the role of MSRV in the pathogenesis of multiple seclerosis in Japanese populations.
On the other hand, during this study period, we revealed that the polymorphism at position 247 of the beta2-glycoprotein I gene is important for the generation of anti-beta2-glycoprotein I antibodies in the antiphospholipid syndrome, and that chronic lymphocytic leukemia B cells express restricted sets of mutated and unmutated antigen receptors. These findings obtained in this study would be useful for better understanding of the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases, including multiple sclerosis.
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