Related Experiment Video
Updated: Dec 13, 2025

Microarray-based Identification of Individual HERV Loci Expression: Application to Biomarker Discovery in Prostate Cancer
Published on: November 2, 2013
The role of endogenous retroviruses-K in human cancer
Zahra Salavatiha1, Rahim Soleimani-Jelodar1, Somayeh Jalilvand1
1Department of Virology, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Abstract:
It is known that human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs) constitute almost 8% of the human genome. Although the expression of HERVs from the human genome is tightly regulated, different exogenous and endogenous factors could trigger HERV activation. Aberrant expression of different HERVs may potentially cause a variety of diseases such as neurological and autoimmune diseases as well as cancer. It is suggested that HERV-K can induce cancer through different mechanisms that are discussed. The interplay between some tumor viruses and HERV-K seems to be a key player in progression of viral-associated cancers because elevated levels of Rec and Np9 proteins are observed in several cancers. The frequent over expression of HERV proteins and some specific antibodies in cancer cells could be considered as suitable prognostic and therapeutic biomarkers in diagnosis and treatment of cancers. The expression of HERV proteins in cancers and development of immune responses against them may also be used as targets for cancer immunotherapy. Further studies are warranted to evaluate the role of HERVs in cancer formation and use of different HERV proteins in developing new diagnostic and therapeutic approaches for cancer treatments.
Related Concept Videos
Mechanisms of Retrovirus-induced Cancers
Rous Sarcoma Virus (RSV) and Cancer
RSV is a retrovirus that contains two copies of a plus-strand RNA genome. Its genome consists of four main open...
Retroviruses
Non-LTR Retrotransposons
Retrovirus Life Cycles
LTR Retrotransposons
The internal coding region of LTR retrotransposons and their mechanism of transposition closely resembles a...

