Biomaterial Database

Identification of differentially expressed HERV-K(HML-2) loci in colorectal cancer. 2023

Qian Kang, and Xin Guo, and Tianfu Li, and Caiqin Yang, and Jingwan Han, and Lei Jia, and Yongjian Liu, and Xiaolin Wang, and Bohan Zhang, and Jingyun Li, and Hong-Ling Wen, and Hanping Li, and Lin Li

State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Department of Virology, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Beijing, China.

Colorectal cancer is one of the malignant tumors with the highest mortality rate in the world. Survival rates vary significantly among patients at various stages of the disease. A biomarker capable of early diagnosis is required to facilitate the early detection and treatment of colorectal cancer. Human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs) are abnormally expressed in various diseases, including cancer, and have been involved in cancer development. Real-time quantitative PCR was used to detect the transcript levels of HERV-K(HML-2) gag, pol, and env in colorectal cancer to systematically investigate the connection between HERV-K(HML-2) and colorectal cancer. The results showed that HERV-K(HML-2) transcript expression was significantly higher than healthy controls and was consistent at the population and cell levels. We also used next-generation sequencing to identify and characterize HERV-K(HML-2) loci that were differentially expressed between colorectal cancer patients and healthy individuals. The analysis revealed that these loci were concentrated in immune response signaling pathways, implying that HERV-K impacts the tumor-associated immune response. Our results indicated that HERV-K might serve as a screening tumor marker and a target for tumor immunotherapy in colorectal cancer.