Endogenous retrovirus: from fundamental studies to etiotropic therapy of multiple sclerosis

Abstract

Retroviruses are a single-stranded RNA viruses that introducetheir genes into host cells genome. Genes of retroviruses compose9.3% of human genome. These genes may influence humangenome activity by changing its structure and stability, introducingregulatory elements and expression of retroviral genes.Recently role of endogen retroviruses in human disease is studied.This article presents an overview of the role of retroviruses inthe development of multiple sclerosis and potential approachesto etiotropic therapy.

Keywords

• endogenous retroviruses
• multiple sclerosis
• demyelination
• etiotropic therapy