Table 2 The clinical applications of HERVs in urologic malignancies.
From: The expression, regulation, and function of human endogenous retroviruses in genitourinary cancers
Cancer type | Clinical application | Specific target/approach | Key findings | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Prostate cancer | Diagnosis | HERV-K GAG RNA/protein | Elevated in 85.2% tumors vs. 5.6% benign tissues; plasma antibodies detected | |
Diagnosis | Prostate-specific HERV probes | 44 HERV probes identified via microarray; requires clinical validation | ||
Diagnosis | PSA + HERV-K assay | Enhances detection sensitivity in older men/smokers | ||
Therapy | RT inhibitors (e.g., abacavir) | Inhibits tumor growth, S-phase delay, reduces PC3/LNCaP invasion | ||
Therapy | HERV-K GAG vaccines | Triggers B-cell autoantibodies in advanced disease; induces CD8+/CD4+ response | ||
Renal cell carcinoma | Prognosis | ERV-based stratification (E4421/E1659) | Predicts ICI response in metastatic ccRCC; outperforms transcriptomic signatures | |
Prognosis | HHLA2 | Elevated expression correlates with advanced clinicopathological features | ||
Therapy | Vaccines (MVA-HKenv/MVA-HKcon) | Reduces lung metastases in kidney cancer models | ||
Therapy | Epigenetic-ICI combination | DNMTis enhance ICI efficacy via interferon signaling | ||
Therapy | ACT/mAb targeting PD-1 | High PD-1⁺/low TIM-3⁻/LAG-3⁻ TILs predict nivolumab response in metastatic ccRCC | ||
Bladder cancer | Diagnosis | miR-4454 (HERV-H-derived) | Upregulated in NMIBC; early detection biomarker | |
Prognosis | HHLA2 | Independent predictor of tumor size/stage/grade/LN metastasis | ||
Diagnosis | UCA1 (HERV-H-associated) | High sensitivity/specificity for bladder cancer detection |
