Human Endogenous Retrovirus, SARS-CoV-2, and HIV Promote PAH via Inflammation and Growth Stimulation

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a pulmonary vascular disease characterized by the progressive elevation of pulmonary arterial pressures. It is becoming increasingly apparent that inflammation contributes to the pathogenesis and progression of PAH. Several viruses are known to cause PAH, such as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), human endogenous retrovirus K(HERV-K), and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), in part due to acute and chronic inflammation. In this review, we discuss the connections between HERV-K, HIV, SARS-CoV-2, and PAH, to stimulate research regarding new therapeutic options and provide new targets for the treatment of the disease.

Metagenomic analysis of viral genes integrated in whole genome sequencing data of Thai patients with Brugada syndrome

Brugada syndrome (BS) is an autosomal dominant inheritance cardiac arrhythmia disorder associated with sudden death in young adults. Thailand has the highest prevalence of BS worldwide, and over 60% of patients with BS still have unclear disease etiology. Here, we performeda new viral metagenome analysis pipeline called VIRIN and validated it with whole genome sequencing (WGS) data of HeLa cell lines and hepatocellular carcinoma. Then the VIRIN pipelinewas applied to identify viral integration positions from unmapped WGS data of Thai males, including 100 BS patients (case) and 100 controls. Even though the sample preparation had noviral enrichment step, we can identify several virus genes from our analysis pipeline. The predominance of human endogenous retrovirus K (HERV-K) viruses was found in both cases andcontrols by blastn and blastx analysis. This study is the first report on the full-length HERV-Kassembled genomes in the Thai population. Furthermore, the HERV-K integration breakpointpositions were validated and compared between the case and control datasets. Interestingly,Brugada cases contained HERV-K integration breakpoints at promoters five times more oftenthan controls. Overall, the highlight of this study is the BS-specific HERV-K breakpoint positionsthat were found at the gene coding region "NBPF11" (n = 9), "NBPF12" (n = 8) and longnon-coding RNA (lncRNA) "PCAT14" (n = 4) region. The genes and the lncRNA have been reported to be associated with congenital heart and arterial diseases. These findings provide another aspect of the BS etiology associated with viral genome integrations within the humangenome.

Age-related reduction of antibody response against the human endogenous retrovirus K envelope in women

In the present study, the correlation between the antibody response against human endogenous retrovirus K (HERV-K) envelope and human age was investigated. Antibody levels were compared in groups in their 20s (n = 25), 30s (n = 39), 40s (n = 68), 50s (n = 32), and 60s and over (n = 25), which included healthy individuals and breast cancer and/or cervical cancer patients. It appeared that both IgM and IgG responses against the HERV-K envelope fell with increasing age. There were no differences in anti-HERV-K envelope antibody levels between healthy individuals and cancer patients. Therefore, our results indicated that the anti-HERV-K antibody levels cannot be considered as cancer-specific marker. Also, IgG1 appeared to be the predominant subtype in the reduction of the IgG response by age. Receiver operating characteristic curves of anti-HERV-K envelope IgM levels indicated that the groups of people in their 20s or 30s could be distinguished from those in their 40s, 50s or 60s and over with satisfactory sensitivity and specificity. These findings indicate that the serum antibody level of HERV-K envelope is a critical parameter reflecting person's age.