MSRV-1 VIRUS AND PATHOGENIC AND/OR INFECTION INDUCING MSRV-2 FACTOR BEING CONNECTED WITH RHEUMATIC ARTHRITIS

摘要

Use of purified or isolated viral material (A), having reverse transcriptase activity and being a member of the endogenous retrovirus family, for diagnosis, prevention or treatment of infection by, or reactivation of, (A), associated with rheumatoid polyarthritis (RPA) is new. (A) is derived from one of the strains POL-2 (ECACC V92072202) or MS7PG (ECACC V93010816), or their variants having 1 antigen recognised by an antibody directed against the corresp. antigen of one of the specified strains. Also new are (1) similar use of (i) nucleotide fragments of (A), (ii) pathogenic and/or infectious agents (B) other than (A) but derived from the same viral strains and/or (iii) polypeptides encoded by the nucleotide fragments; (2) (A)-related nucleotide fragments of 126, 648 bp and 648 bp and (B)-related nucleotide fragments of 87 and 705 bp, also their complements and equivs., and their fragments for use as specific primers and probes for amplification/hybridisation with DNA and DNA of (A) and (B), respectively.