Human endogenous retroviruses and ageing

Excerpt

Over evolutionary time, the human genome has incorporated large amounts of genetic material from ancient retroviral infections, comprising ca. 8% of the total DNA. The majority of human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs) are defective due to the accumulation of mutations and deletions but some proviruses, especially in the youngest families (e.g. HERV-K (HML-2), contain intact genes permitting the production of proviral proteins (for a review, see [1]). The functions of HERVs have been under active investigation for decades and it is now known that far from being quiescent, some are involved in several crucial physiologic processes, clearly advantageous or essential to the host, e.g. placentation, neuroprotection and differentiation of cells in early embryos. However, there are now many publications also showing that HERVs are involved in the pathogenesis of several diseases (autoimmune, inflammatory, malignancies) [1]. …