Figure 1.

HERV-W transcription activity in human PBMCs, by qualitative RT-PCR. An example of agarose gel analysis is shown. Briefly, RNA from human PBMCs was retrotranscribed and amplified by RT-PCR, using degenerated primers to assess the different virus types belonging to HERV-W family; samples in which PCR products could be visualized were defined as positive for HERV-W expression (lanes 2, 3, 4, and 6), while samples in which no specific band could be detected were defined as negative (lanes 1 and 5).