Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: EC:2.7.7.49 (reverse transcriptase)
 31,746 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The frequency of muscle involvement in TSP/HAM is not known, nor is the precise role that HTLV-1 and the diverse cytokines play in the genesis of HTLV-1-associated diseases. In order to better define the frequency and characteristics of the skeletal muscle involvement in TSP/HAM, we studied 11 affected patients. EMG was performed in 9 patients and muscle biopsy was performed in all 11. Muscle tissue was analyzed using: reverse transcriptase PCR for interleukin-1 in 8; PCR for HTLV-1 proviral DNA in 5; and electron microscopy for viral particles in 3. We found pathologic alterations in all 11 patients. Four patients (36%) had a neurogenic process, while a primary muscle involvement was observed in the rest (64%). Four patients (36%) had polymyositis, and 3 (27%) had a noninflammatory myopathy. Muscle weakness in the upper limbs was significantly associated with inflammation in the muscle biopsy. EMG was abnormal in only 2 of 9 patients. Reverse transcriptase PCR did not demonstrate message for interleukin-1 in any sample examined. PCR did identify HTLV-1 proviral DNA in the muscle of 3 patients. Retroviral-like particles were found, by EM, in only one biopsy. HTLV-1 may play an important role in the pathogenesis of the frequent myopathies associated with HAM/TSP.
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PMID:Skeletal muscle involvement in tropical spastic paraparesis/HTLV-1-associated myelopathy. 804

Mice infected with the Tucson strain of coxsackievirus B1 (CVB1T) develop chronic T cell-mediated polymyositis that is manifest as the acute infection resolves and is characterized by hindquarter weakness and muscle inflammation. This model system was used to study persistence of CVB1T RNA by using reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). For the most part, RNA persistence reflected the myotropic and neurotropic nature of the virus. At 1 month after infection, infectious virus was not detected in muscle, but persistent viral RNA was found in both skeletal and cardiac muscle, brain, and spinal cord. The kidney was weakly positive for viral RNA, whereas the liver and spleen were negative. Hindquarter muscle was assayed for persistent viral RNA at 1, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months after infection. In a few cases, persistent viral RNA was detected as late as 12 months after infection. The incidence of persistent viral RNA was high at 1 month after infection and gradually declined until, at 6 months and beyond, it was maintained in 3% to 12% of the muscles tested. Long-term viral RNA persistence was not more common in severely weak animals. However, the degree of hindquarter weakness that developed by 1 month was static thereafter and did not change over the 12-month study period. In contrast, separate experiments revealed that typical mononuclear cell (MNC) infiltration of muscle followed a time course similar to that of viral RNA persistence, peaking at 1 month and gradually resolving by 6 months. Infiltrating polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs) and mast cells were present at 3 to 12 months after infection, signifying that some inflammatory activity remained. Other signs of myopathy that persisted for 12 months included a lack of muscle regeneration, variations in fiber size, and myofiber atrophy with increased perimysial and endomysial connective tissue. These results demonstrate that coxsackievirus RNA can persist in muscle for extended periods of time and are compatible with the idea that persistent virus is involved in maintaining the chronic MNC inflammation observed in murine polymyositis.
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PMID:Duration of virus persistence and its relationship to inflammation in the chronic phase of coxsackievirus B1-induced murine polymyositis. 813 42

We investigated the profiles of cytokine mRNA expression in muscle in 15 cases of inflammatory myopathy (IM) (5 each of polymyositis, inclusion body myositis, and dermatomyositis) and in 10 controls (5 of Duchenne dystrophy and 5 non-weak subjects). Expressions of the predominantly T cell-derived cytokines (interleukin (IL)-2, IL-4, IL-5, and interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma), of the predominantly macrophage-derived cytokines (IL-1, IL-6, and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha)), as well as cytokines that can be of either T cell or macrophage origin (granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) and transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGF-beta 1) and TGF-beta 2), were monitored by the reverse transcriptase-PCR method. The expression of T cell cytokine mRNAs for IL-2, IL-5, and IFN-gamma was generally weak or inconsistent. IL-4 mRNA expression was consistently moderate to strong in polymyositis but generally weak or absent in the other IMs. The expression of macrophage cytokine mRNAs for IL-1 alpha and IL-1 beta was weak or absent in all cases. Variable TNF-alpha mRNA expression was observed in 12 of 15 IM cases and faint or weak expression in 5 of 10 controls. Very strong GM-CSF expression was detected, but only on boosted PCR, in 12 of 15 cases of IM but in none of the controls. IL-6 was expressed only weakly or inconsistently. In contrast to the variable expression of several of the above mentioned cytokine mRNAs, all IM specimens strongly expressed TGF-beta 1 mRNA and 12 of 15 strongly expressed TGF-beta 2 mRNA. Thus, with the exception of IL-4 expression in polymyositis, a similar pattern of cytokine mRNA expression exists in the different types of IMs. Moreover, this pattern resembles that detected in non-weak and DD controls, although expression is generally weaker in the non-weak controls. The findings suggest that in IM muscle a sustained secretion of cytokines by T cells or of IL-1 by macrophages is not a prerequisite for operation of the immune effector response and that muscle may not be the site of ongoing sensitization.
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PMID:Analysis of cytokine expression in muscle in inflammatory myopathies, Duchenne dystrophy, and non-weak controls. 855 29

Ten laminin alpha2-deficient patients were identified by both immunofluorescence and immunoblotting (30% of congenital muscular dystrophy patients tested). Three of the laminin alpha2-deficient patients were carrying a diagnosis of infantile polymyositis prior to immunostaining studies. The clinical features in the 10 merosin-deficient patients were homogeneous, with severe floppiness at birth, delay in achievement of motor milestones, and magnetic resonance imaging findings of white matter changes with normal intelligence. The 10-kb laminin alpha2-coding sequence was screened for causative mutations by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction/single-stranded conformational polymorphism analysis in muscle biopsy specimens from 5 patients, followed by automatic sequencing of aberrant conformers. Clear loss-of-function deletion mutations were identified in both alleles of 1 patient. Muscle histopathology in this patient showed a striking inflammatory infiltrate of T cells and B cells. Reexamination of biopsy specimens from other laminin alpha2-deficient patients showed minor signs of inflammation in each. Based on these findings and the histological and clinical picture suggesting failure of muscle regeneration, a pathogenesis model for this major subset of congenital muscular dystrophy is proposed. Our data show that muscle histopathology showing a neonatal inflammatory process should be considered consistent with congenital muscular dystrophy.
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PMID:Congenital muscular dystrophy with primary laminin alpha2 (merosin) deficiency presenting as inflammatory myopathy. 895 20

We investigated gene expression patterns of ion channels including the apamin-sensitive small-conductance Ca(2+)-activated K(+) (SK3) channel, the adult isoform of the skeletal muscle Na(+) channel (SkM1), the fetal isoform of skeletal muscle Na(+) channel (H1), and the Cl(-) channel (ClC-1) by using the semiquantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for muscle samples from patients with adult onset myotonic dystrophy (DM), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and polymyositis. Patients with DM showed a significant increase in SK3 mRNA but not in mRNAs for other ion channels. The increased expression of SK3 gene in DM did not correlate with H1, the marker of muscle denervation, or the percentage of type 2C fiber, the marker of muscle regeneration.
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PMID:The expression of ion channel mRNAs in skeletal muscles from patients with myotonic muscular dystrophy. 1109 Sep 82

The idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIM) are a group of autoimmune diseases characterized by chronic lymphocytic and macrophagic infiltration in muscle. Because the mechanism for recruitment of these cells probably involves chemokines, we focused on the study of the expression pattern of some beta chemokines and receptors because it may provide a basis for selective immunotherapy. The expression of CCL3 (MIP-1alpha), CCL4 (MIP-1beta), CCL5 (RANTES) and their main receptors (CCR1 and CCR5) was studied by semi-quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and immunohistochemistry in a series of 16 IIM and five controls (four normal muscles and one tonsil). Except for CCL5, strong expression was observed by RT-PCR with all molecules in all IIM subtypes in comparison to control muscle. Immunohistochemistry revealed diffuse CCL4 expression in all vessels in dermatomyositis. In both polymyositis and sporadic inclusion body myositis (s-IBM) it was restricted to vessels in the vicinity of inflammatory exudates. CCL5 expression was low, restricted to a few inflammatory cells in all IIM; CCR1 expression was mainly restricted to macrophages and s-IBM endothelial cells, whereas CCR5 was localized in inflammatory cells invading non-necrotic muscle fibres. Expressions of both receptors were also recorded in few muscle fibres. In conclusion, the upregulation of beta chemokines and receptors in IIM and their differential expression by various cells may contribute to chronic inflammation and to the peculiar distribution of inflammatory exudates in these diseases.
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PMID:Expression of the beta chemokines CCL3, CCL4, CCL5 and their receptors in idiopathic inflammatory myopathies. 1563 33