A macrophage surrounded by retroviruses, Wikimedia, doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0040445
Fragments of ancient viruses buried in the genomes of mammals and other vertebrates typically lay dormant but can awaken in immune-compromised mice and may cause cancers, according to a new study published today (October 24) in Nature. The trigger for the resurrection of such viruses, known as endogenous retroviruses (ERVs), could be other microbes, which are unfettered in such immune-compromised mice.
“This study provides a link between exposure to other microbes—commensals or even pathogens—and activation of endogenous retroviruses, which in mice leads to cancer,” said senior author George Kassiotis, an immunologist at The National Institute of Medical Research in the United Kingdom. But other researchers are skeptical of the connection.
ERVs are the broken remains of ancient retroviral infections, in which fragments of viral RNA ...
