Human Endogenous Retrovirus K in Cancer: A Potential Biomarker and Immunotherapeutic Target

In diseases where epigenetic mechanisms are changed, such as cancer, many genes show altered gene expression and inhibited genes become activated. Human endogenous retrovirus type K (HERV-K) expression is usually inhibited in normal cells from healthy adults. In tumor cells, however, HERV-K mRNA exp...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Curty, Gislaine, Marston, Jez L., de Mulder Rougvie, Miguel, Leal, Fabio E., Nixon, Douglas F., Soares, Marcelo A.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2020
Materias:
Review
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7412025/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32640516
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/v12070726
Descripción
Sumario:In diseases where epigenetic mechanisms are changed, such as cancer, many genes show altered gene expression and inhibited genes become activated. Human endogenous retrovirus type K (HERV-K) expression is usually inhibited in normal cells from healthy adults. In tumor cells, however, HERV-K mRNA expression has been frequently documented to increase. Importantly, HERV-K-derived proteins can act as tumor-specific antigens, a class of neoantigens, and induce immune responses in different types of cancer. In this review, we describe the function of the HERV-K HML-2 subtype in carcinogenesis as biomarkers, and their potential as targets for cancer immunotherapy.

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