Fig. 2: Kidney HERV expressions correlate with nucleotide sensors and immune cell fractions.

a Schematic representation of cytosolic nucleic acid sensing pathway. b Representative images of in situ hybridization of HERV-K (pink) in healthy and chronic kidney disease (CKD) human kidneys. Scale bar, 20 μm. c Representative immunohistochemistry images of HERV-K, RIG-I, cGAS, STING, and pSTING protein expression in healthy and chronic kidney disease (CKD) human kidneys. Scale bar, 10 μm. d Western blot showing the expression of HERV-K, RIG-I, MDA5, cGAS, pSTING, STING, pTBK1, and TBK1 protein levels in healthy and human chronic kidney disease (CKD) samples. GAPDH was used as a loading control. e Heatmap of correlation coefficients (Pearson) transposable elements (TEs) and genes in the cytosolic nucleic acid sensing pathway in human kidney samples. Each column is one TE expression, and each row is one gene expression. Red indicates higher, blue indicates lower expression. f Heatmap of correlation coefficients (Pearson) of transposable elements (TEs) and estimated cell fractions in human kidney samples. Each column is one TE expression, and each row is one gene expression. Red indicates higher, blue indicates lower expression. CD8T CD8 T cells, CD4T CD4 T cells, NK natural killer cells, ProlifLy proliferating lymphocytes, Mono monocytes, DC dendritic cells, Granul granulocytes, pDC plasmacytoid dendritic cells, Baso basophils, Macro macrophages, DLOH descending loop of Henle, DCT distal convoluted tubule, CNT connecting tubule cells, CDPC collecting duct principal cells, ALOH loop of Henle, BIC type-B intercalated cells, BPBPC peripheral blood progenitor cells, AIC type-A intercalated cells, ProlifPT proliferating proximal tubules, PT proximal tubules. Data were representative of two independent experiments (b–d). Source data are provided as a Source Data file.