Endogenous Retroviruses in Nervous System Disorders

Victoria Gröger; Alexander Emmer; Martin S Staege; Holger Cynis

doi:10.3390/ph14010070

Endogenous Retroviruses in Nervous System Disorders

Pharmaceuticals (Basel). 2021 Jan 16;14(1):70. doi: 10.3390/ph14010070.

Authors

Victoria Gröger¹, Alexander Emmer², Martin S Staege³, Holger Cynis¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Drug Design and Target Validation, Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology, 06120 Halle (Saale), Germany.
² Department of Neurology, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, 06120 Halle (Saale), Germany.
³ Department of Surgical and Conservative Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, 06120 Halle (Saale), Germany.

Abstract

Human endogenous retroviruses (HERV) have been implicated in the pathogenesis of several nervous system disorders including multiple sclerosis and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. The toxicity of HERV-derived RNAs and proteins for neuronal cells has been demonstrated. The involvement of HERV in the pathogenesis of currently incurable diseases might offer new treatment strategies based on the inhibition of HERV activities by small molecules or therapeutic antibodies.

Keywords: amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; human endogenous retrovirus; monoclonal antibodies; multiple sclerosis.

Publication types

Review

Abstract

Publication types

Grants and funding