ArticleClinical and experimental immunology2010
A role for human endogenous retrovirus-K (HML-2) in rheumatoid arthritis: investigating mechanisms of pathogenesis.
Article in Clinical and experimental immunology, 2010. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 63 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
63 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 114 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- Retroviral sero-reactivity in LGL leukaemia patients and family members.British journal of haematology · 2020Trial
- Retrotransposons in Bone and Joint Diseases.FASEB bioAdvances · 2026Review
- Type I interferons increase expression of endogenous retrovirus K102 and envelope protein in myeloid cells from patients with autoimmune disease.Mobile DNA · 2025Article
- Reactivation of retrotransposable elements is associated with environmental stress and ageing.Nature reviews. Genetics · 2025Review
- Endogenous Retroelement Activation is Implicated in Interferon-α Production and Anti-Cyclic Citrullinated Peptide Autoantibody Generation in Early Rheumatoid Arthritis.Arthritis & rheumatology (Hoboken, N.J.) · 2025Article
- Expression profiles of TNF-Alpha and HERV-K Env proteins in multiple types of colon and lung disease.Genes & genomics · 2025Article
- Activation of human endogenous retroviruses by Sox proteins induces cell apoptosis via the caspase-3 pathway.Frontiers in microbiology · 2025Article
- Human Endogenous Retroviruses Expression in Autoimmunity.The Yale journal of biology and medicine · 2024Review
- Targeted Variant Assessments of Human Endogenous Retroviral Regions in Whole Genome Sequencing Data Reveal Retroviral Variants Associated with Papillary Thyroid Cancer.Microorganisms · 2024Article
- Review
- Review
- The Humoral Immune Response against Human Endogenous Retroviruses in Celiac Disease: A Case-Control Study.Biomedicines · 2024Article
- Roles of Human Endogenous Retrovirus-K-Encoded Np9 in Human Diseases: A Small Protein with Big Functions.Viruses · 2024Review
- Development of human endogenous retrovirus type K- related treatments for human diseases.Journal of medical virology · 2024Review
- Species-Specific Transcription Factors Associated with Long Terminal Repeat Promoters of Endogenous Retroviruses: A Comprehensive Review.Biomolecules · 2024Review
- Antibody Response to HERV-K and HERV-W Envelope Epitopes in Patients with Myasthenia Gravis.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Article
- Human Endogenous Retrovirus-K (HML-2)-Related Genetic Variation: Human Genome Diversity and Disease.Genes · 2023Review
- Article
- Expression of Envelope Protein Encoded by Endogenous Retrovirus K102 in Rheumatoid Arthritis Neutrophils.Microorganisms · 2023Article
3 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
11 authors at 6 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs) are remnants of ancient retroviral infections within the human genome. These molecular fossils draw parallels with present-day exogenous retroviruses and have been linked previously with immunopathology within rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Mechanisms of pathogenesis for HERV-K in RA such as molecular mimicry were investigated. To clarify a role for HERVs in RA, potential autoantigens implicated in autoimmunity were scanned for sequence identity with retroviral epitopes. Short retroviral peptides modelling shared epitopes were synthesized, to survey anti-serum of RA patients and disease controls. A novel real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay was also developed to quantify accurately levels of HERV-K (HML-2) gag expression, relative to normalized housekeeping gene expression. Both serological and molecular assays showed significant increases in HERV-K (HML-2) gag activity in RA patients, compared to disease controls. The real-time PCR assay identified significant up-regulation in HERV-K mRNA levels in RA patients compared to inflammatory and healthy controls. Exogenous viral protein expression and proinflammatory cytokines were also shown to exert modulatory effects over HERV-K (HML-2) transcription. From our data, it can be concluded that RA patients exhibited significantly elevated levels of HERV-K (HML-2) gag activity compared to controls. Additional factors influencing HERV activity within the synovium were also identified. The significant variation in RA patients, both serologically and transcriptionally, may be an indication that RA is an umbrella term for a number of separate disease entities, of which particular HERV polymorphisms may play a role in development.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.