" HERV reactivation by adenovirus infection is associated with viral immune regulation "

Wen Liang; Miona Stubbe; Lisa Pleninger; Anna Hofferek; Hans Stubbe; Julia Mai; Salih Özer; Dmitrij Frishman; Sabrina Schreiner; Michelle Vincendeau

doi:10.1016/j.micinf.2024.105466

" HERV reactivation by adenovirus infection is associated with viral immune regulation "

Microbes Infect. 2024 Dec 21:105466. doi: 10.1016/j.micinf.2024.105466. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Virology, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany; Institute of Virology, Helmholtz Zentrum München, Munich, Germany.
² Institute of Virology, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany.
³ Medical Department II, University Hospital, LMU, Munich, Germany; German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), Partner site Munich, German.
⁴ Institute of Virology, Medical Center - University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany.
⁵ Department of Bioinformatics, Technical University of Munich, 85354 Freising, Germany.
⁶ Institute of Virology, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany; Institute of Virology, Helmholtz Zentrum München, Munich, Germany; Institute of Virology, Medical Center - University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany; Institute of Virology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany; Cluster of Excellence RESIST (Resolving Infection Susceptibility; EXC 2155), Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany. Electronic address: [email protected].
⁷ Institute of Virology, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany; Institute of Virology, Helmholtz Zentrum München, Munich, Germany. Electronic address: [email protected].

PMID: 39716530
DOI: 10.1016/j.micinf.2024.105466

Abstract

Human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs), which are normally silenced by methylation or mutation, can be reactivated by a variety of environmental factors, including infection with exogenous viruses. In this work, we investigated the transcriptional activity of HERVs following infection of human liver cells (HepaRG) with human adenovirus C serotype 5 (HAdV-C5). HAdV-C5 infection results in reactivation of several HERV groups as well as differentially expressed genes. Interestingly, in HAdV-C5 infection, upregulated genes that were in close chromosomal proximity to upregulated HERV loci were associated with influencing viral carcinogenesis and inflammatory signaling. We also identified an FBXO17 transcript encoding an intronic ERVK9-11 sense sequence upon HAdV-C5 infection. FBXO17 has previously been described as an important factor in the regulation of the interferon response. This suggests that specific HERV groups may have the potential to trigger gene networks and influence viral immune responses.

Keywords: ERV-K9; FBXO17; HAdV-C5; HERVs; Human Adenovirus; INF response; differentially expressed HERVs; differentially expressed genes; functional annotation; gene regulation; virus-host interactions.