Abstract
The human genome harbors many endogenous retroviral elements, known as human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs), which have been integrated into the genome during evolution due to infections by exogenous retroviruses. Accounting for up to 8% of the human genome, HERVs are tightly regulated by the host and are implicated in various physiological and pathological processes. Aberrant expression of HERVs has been observed in numerous studies on exogenous viral infections. In this review, we focus on elucidating the potential roles of HERVs during various exogenous viral infections and further discuss their implications in antiviral immunity.
Keywords:
HERV-K; HERV-W; active immunity; antiviral immunity; human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs); virus infection.
Copyright © 2024 Bao, Gao, Xiang, Shen, Chen, Gao, Cao, Zhang, He and Mao.
MeSH terms
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Endogenous Retroviruses* / genetics
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Endogenous Retroviruses* / immunology
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Endogenous Retroviruses* / metabolism
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Gene Expression Regulation, Viral
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Humans
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Microbial Interactions / immunology
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Virus Diseases* / immunology
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Virus Diseases* / therapy
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Virus Diseases* / virology
Grants and funding
The author(s) declare that financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32070182), Key Project of Jiangsu Commission of Health (ZD2021049), Suzhou Municipal Science and Technology Development Plan (SKYD2023002), Suzhou Municipal Key Discipline Construction Project (SZXK202124), The Talent Research Project of Suzhou Health Talent Plan (GSWS2023005), and Postgraduate Research & Practice Innovation Program of Jiangsu Province (KYCX24_4039).