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Over the millennia, viral DNA has become incorporated into the human genome at widely scattered points so that human endogenous retrovirus (HERV) DNA now constitutes 8% of our genes. Researchers have previously found sequencing evidence for the subtype known as HERV-W in schizophrenia patients. Because HERV DNA can be activated by infections that include perinatal influenza and contributes to the regulation of other genes, investigators in France used novel monoclonal antibodies to identify antigens for the matrix and envelope of HERV-W in 49 schizophrenia patients about to be discharged from psychiatric hospitalization (almost all for exacerbations of chronic schizophrenia) and in 49 healthy controls.
Significantly more schizophrenia patien…