ArticleAnnals of neurology2011
Identification of active loci of a human endogenous retrovirus in neurons of patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
Article in Annals of neurology, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT02437110 (HERV-K Suppression Using Antiretroviral Therapy in Volunteers With Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis), which is not on this map. Cited by 200 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
HERV-K Suppression Using Antiretroviral Therapy in Volunteers With Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)
Who cites it
200 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 321 citations in OpenAlex.
- Biomarkers in ALS trials: from discovery to clinical utility.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2025Pooled it
- Glial cell toxicity in a Drosophila C9orf72 neurodegeneration model.PLoS genetics · 2026Article
- LINE-1 Retrotransposons and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Plasma exosomal HERV-K transcripts are increased in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.BMC neuroscience · 2026Article
- Long-read sequencing maps transposable element variation and its regulatory and epigenetic effects in the human brain.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- ERVK activity in CD8Journal of neuroinflammation · 2026Article
- TDP-43: [GU]-ardian of the transcriptome.Molecular neurodegeneration · 2026Review
- Human Endogenous Retroviruses in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Emerging Roles in Pathogenesis, Immunity, Biomarkers and Therapeutics.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Downregulation of miRNAs Accompanies Increased HERV-K (HML-2) Expression in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.Molecular neurobiology · 2026Article
- TARDBP as a regulator of HIV-1 assembly and infection: a review of targeting the viral capsid precursor Pr55Gag and limiting viral core entry.Cell communication and signaling : CCS · 2026Review
- Classification of ALS molecular subtypes: a literature review on machine learning applications and their clinical value.BMC medicine · 2026Review
- Implications of virus-induced stress granules in tauopathies.Translational neurodegeneration · 2026Review
- Review
- The relationship between HERVs and exogenous viral infections: A focus on the value of HERVs in disease prediction and treatment.Virulence · 2025Review
- LINE-1 retrotransposition in a mouse TDP-43 model of neurodegeneration marks motor cortex neurons for cell-intrinsic and cell non-autonomous programmed cell death.PLoS genetics · 2025Article
- Human Endogenous Retroviruses and Diseases.MedComm · 2025Review
- The Other Side of the Same Coin: Beyond the Coding Region in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Glial cell-intrinsic and non-cell autonomous toxicity in a Drosophila C9orf72 neurodegeneration model.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Strict retroelement regulation is frequently lost following cancer transformation and generates a promising reservoir of cancer biomarkers.Mobile DNA · 2025Article
- Hospital-treated infections and the risk and prognosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: A population-based study.Journal of internal medicine · 2025Article
140 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
4 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveAmyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is characterized by the progressive loss of motor neurons, of unknown etiology. Previous studies showed reverse transcriptase in serum of ALS patients at levels comparable to human immunodeficiency virus-infected patients; however, the source and significance of the retroviral elements is uncertain.
methodsExpression of a human endogenous retrovirus (HERV-K) was determined in autopsy brain tissue of patients with ALS and compared to control populations by real-time polymerase chain reaction followed by sequencing of the amplified genes and confirmed by immunostaining.
resultsHERV-K pol transcripts were increased in patients with ALS compared to those with chronic systemic illness, but could not be detected in Parkinson disease or in the accidental death controls. Sequencing revealed several actively transcribed loci in the HML-2 and 3 subfamilies of HERV-K, with a specific pattern of expression including intact open reading frames and the transcription of a unique locus in ALS. The frequency of intact pol transcripts was highest in the motor cortex, and the reverse transcriptase protein was localized to cortical neurons of ALS patients. HERV-K expression strongly correlated with TDP-43, a multifunctional protein known to be dysregulated in ALS.
interpretationWe have identified a specific pattern of HERV-K expression in ALS, which may potentially define the pathophysiology of ALS. Targeting of activated genome-encoded retroviral elements may open new prospects for the treatment of ALS.
Indexed as
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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.