Fig. 3.

HERV-W ENV mRNA expression correlates with the expression of several pro-inflammatory cytokines and innate immunity mediators in blood samples of COVID-19 patients.

Scatter plots of the HERV-W ENV mRNA levels (X-axis) and cytokine/cytokine receptor expression (Y-axis: IL-6, IL-10, IL-17, IL-17RA, TNFα, INFγ, MCP1, CXCR1, CXCL6), obtained by qRT-PCR analysis. Pairwise associations between continuous variables were tested through the Spearman correlation coefficient (Rho). Statistically significant values were considered when p <0.050 (a). PBMCs from Healthy donors(n = 4) stimulated with SARS-CoV2 spike protein (1 or 5 nM) and  IL-6 protein (10 ng) for 3,24 h and 5 days(Box plots of HERV-W ENV (b) and IL-6 (c) mRNA levels, obtained by qRT-PCR analysis, d) Box plot of the percentage of HERV-W ENV-positive in CD3+ T lymphocytes after 5 days of stimulation with SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and  IL-6 protein. For comparison the Bonferroni's post-hoc multiple comparison ANOVA test was utilized.