multiple sclerosis associated retroviral nucleic acids and corresponding nucleotidfragmente for diagnosis, prophylaxis and therapy

摘要

The following are claimed: (1) isolated or purified nucleic acid material comprising a nucleotide sequence selected from (i) the 310 bp, 635 bp, 1481 bp, 1329 bp, 1511 bp, 764 bp, 800 bp sequences given in the specification; (ii) sequences complementary to the sequences of (i); and (iii) sequences equivalent to the sequences of (i) and (ii), especially sequences having at least 50%, preferably at least 70%, homology with the sequences of (i) or (ii) for any stretch of 100 contiguous monomers; (2) isolated or purified nucleic acid material encoding a polypeptide having at least 50%, preferably at least 70%, homology with a peptide sequence selected from the 103, 77, 493, 162, 398 and 378 amino acid sequences given in the specification for any contiguous stretch of at least 30 amino acids; (3) retroviral nucleic acid material in which the pol gene comprises a nucleotide sequence identical or equivalent to the 310 bp sequence and its complements; (4) retroviral nucleic acid material in which the 5' end of the pol gene starts at nucleotide 1419 of the 1511bp sequence; (5) retroviral nucleic acid material in which the pol gene encodes a polypeptide having at least 50%, preferably at least 70%, homology with the 103 amino acid sequence for any contiguous stretch of at least 30 amino acids; (6) retroviral nucleic acid material in which the 3' end of the gag gene ends at nucleotide 1418 of 1511bp sequence; (7) retroviral nucleic acid material in which the env gene comprises a nucleotide sequence identical or equivalent to a sequence selected from 1481bp sequence and its complement; (8) retroviral nucleic acid material in which the env gene comprises a nucleotide sequence that starts at nucleotide 1 of the 1481 bp sequence and ends at nucleotide 233 of the 635 bp sequence; (9) retroviral nucleic acid material in which the env gene encodes a polypeptide having at least 50%, preferably at least 70%, homology with the 493 aa sequence for any contiguous stretch of at least 30 amino acids; (10) retroviral nucleic acid material in which the U3R region of the 3' LTR comprises a nucleotide sequence that ends at nucleotide 617 of the 635 bp sequence; (11) retroviral nucleic acid material in which the RU5 region of the 5' LTR comprises a nucleotide sequence that starts at nucleotide 755 of 1329 bp sequence and ends at nucleotide 337 of the 764 bp sequence or the 800 bp sequence; (12) retroviral nucleic acid material comprising a sequence that starts of nucleotide 755 of the 1329bp sequence and ends at nucleotide 617 of the 635bp sequence; (13) retroviral nucleic acid material as in (1)-(12) that is associated with at least one autoimmune disease such as multiple sclerosis or rheumatoid polyarthritis; (14) a nucleotide fragment comprising a nucleotide sequence as in (1); (15) a nucleotide fragment comprising a nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide as in (2); (16) a nucleic acid probe for detecting a retrovirus associated with multiple sclerosis and/or rheumatoid polyarthritis, capable of specifically hybridising to a fragment as in (14) or (15) belonging to the genome of the retrovirus; (17) a primer for amplifying RNA or DNA of a retrovirus associated with multiple sclerosis and/or rheumatoid polyarthritis, comprising a nucleotide sequence identical or equivalent to at least a portion of the nucleotide sequence of a fragment as in one of (8)-(11), especially a sequence having at least 50%, preferably at least 70%, homology with this portion for any stretch of 10 contiguous monomers; (18) RNA or DNA, especially a replication and/or cloning vector, comprising a genomic fragment of nucleic acid material as in one of (1)-(7) or a fragment as in (14) or (15); (19) a peptide encoded by any open reading frame belonging to a nucleotide fragment as in (14) or (15), especially a polypeptide, e.g. an oligopeptide, forming or comprising an antigenic determinant recognised by the sera of patients infected with the virus MSRV-1 and/or in whom the MSRV-1 virus has been reactivated.