ReviewFrontiers in immunology2020
How Retroviruses and Retrotransposons in Our Genome May Contribute to Autoimmunity in Rheumatological Conditions.
Review in Frontiers in immunology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers.
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.
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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.
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Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed, 56 citations in OpenAlex.
- The therapeutic potential of transposable element activity modulation.EMBO molecular medicine · 2026Review
- Locust cGAS-like Receptors Recognize Derivatives of a Gypsy Retrotransposon to Synergize with RNAi Against Viral Invasion.Insects · 2026Article
- Article
- Prevalence and impact of molecular variation in the three-prime repair exonuclease 1 TREX1 and its implications for oncology.Human genomics · 2025Article
- 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
- Article
- Immune and vascular modulation by HERVs: the role ofFrontiers in immunology · 2025Article
- Early human migration determines the risk of being attacked by wolves: ethnic gene diversity on the development of systemic lupus erythematosus.Journal of rheumatic diseases · 2024Review
- Human Endogenous Retrovirus-K (HML-2)-Related Genetic Variation: Human Genome Diversity and Disease.Genes · 2023Review
- The CERV protein of Cer1, a C. elegans LTR retrotransposon, is required for nuclear export of viral genomic RNA and can form giant nuclear rods.PLoS genetics · 2023Article
- Trafficking and effect of released DNA on cGAS-STING signaling pathway and cardiovascular disease.Frontiers in immunology · 2023Review
- Autoantibodies against the envelope proteins of endogenous retroviruses K102 and K108 in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus correlate with active disease.Clinical and experimental rheumatology · 2022Article
- SARS-CoV-2 and human retroelements: a case for molecular mimicry?BMC genomic data · 2022Article
- Association between night shift work and methylation of a subset of immune-related genes.Frontiers in public health · 2022Article
- 'Cannibalism' of exogenous DNA sequences: The ancestral form of adaptive immunity which entails recognition of danger.Frontiers in immunology · 2022Review
- Viruses: Friends or foes.Microbial biotechnology · 2022Article
- Review
- Endogenous retroviruses promote homeostatic and inflammatory responses to the microbiota.Cell · 2021Article
- Human endogenous retroviruses and ageing.Immunity & ageing : I & A · 2021Article
- Implications of Endogenous Retroelements in the Etiopathogenesis of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus.Journal of clinical medicine · 2021Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
More than 200 human disorders include various manifestations of autoimmunity. The molecular events that lead to these diseases are still incompletely understood and their causes remain largely unknown. Numerous potential triggers of autoimmunity have been proposed over the years, but very few of them have been conclusively confirmed or firmly refuted. Viruses have topped the lists of suspects for decades, and it seems that many viruses, including those of the Herpesviridae family, indeed can influence disease initiation and/or promote exacerbations by a number of mechanisms that include prolonged anti-viral immunity, immune subverting factors, and mechanisms, and perhaps "molecular mimicry". However, no specific virus has yet been established as being truly causative. Here, we discuss a different, but perhaps mechanistically related possibility, namely that retrotransposons or retroviruses that infected us in the past and left a lasting copy of themselves in our genome still can provoke an escalating immune response that leads to autoimmune disease. Many of these loci still encode for retroviral proteins that have retained some, or all, of their original functions. Importantly, these endogenous proviruses cannot be eliminated by the immune system the way it can eliminate exogenous viruses. Hence, if not properly controlled, they may drive a frustrated and escalating chronic, or episodic, immune response to the point of a frank autoimmune disorder. Here, we discuss the evidence and the proposed mechanisms, and assess the therapeutic options that emerge from the current understanding of this field.
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