Back to Search
Start Over
HERVs New Role in Cancer: From Accused Perpetrators to Cheerful Protectors
- Source :
- Frontiers in Microbiology, Vol 9 (2018), Frontiers in Microbiology
- Publication Year :
- 2018
- Publisher :
- Frontiers Media S.A., 2018.
-
Abstract
- Initial indications that retroviruses are connected to neoplastic transformation were seen more than a century ago. This concept has also been tested for endogenized retroviruses (ERVs) that are abundantly expressed in many transformed cells. In healthy cells, ERV expression is commonly prevented by DNA methylation and other epigenetic control mechanisms. ERVs are remnants of former exogenous forms that invaded the germ line of the host and have since been vertically transmitted. Several examples of ERV-induced genomic recombination events and dysregulation of cellular genes that contribute to tumor formation have been well documented. Moreover, evidence is accumulating that certain ERV proteins have oncogenic properties. In contrast to these implications for supporting cancer induction, a recent string of papers has described favorable outcomes of increasing human ERV (HERV) RNA and DNA abundance by treatment of cancer cells with methyltransferase inhibitors. Analogous to an infecting agent, the ERV-derived nucleic acids are sensed in the cytoplasm and activate innate immune responses that drive the tumor cell into apoptosis. This “viral mimicry” induced by epigenetic drugs might offer novel therapeutic approaches to help target cancer cells that are normally difficult to treat using standard chemotherapy. In this review, we discuss both the detrimental and the new beneficial role of HERV reactivation in terms of its implications for cancer.
- Subjects :
- 0301 basic medicine
Microbiology (medical)
Mini Review
lcsh:QR1-502
Biology
Microbiology
Germline
lcsh:Microbiology
03 medical and health sciences
0302 clinical medicine
medicine
innate sensing
cancer
Neoplastic transformation
Epigenetics
Gene
Innate immune system
viral mimicry
Cancer
medicine.disease
human endogenous retrovirus (HERV)
HERV-K
030104 developmental biology
030220 oncology & carcinogenesis
Cancer cell
DNA methylation
Cancer research
HERV
DNA-methylation
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- Volume :
- 9
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Frontiers in Microbiology
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....f048cd4d8263f062ef3d58a214751adc