Cooccurrences of Putative Endogenous Retrovirus-Associated Diseases

Abstract

At least 8% of the human genome is composed of endogenous retrovirus (ERV) sequences. ERVs play a role in placental morphogenesis and can sometimes protect the host against exogenous viruses. On the other hand, ERV reactivation has been found to be associated with different diseases, for example, multiple sclerosis (MS), schizophrenia, type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1D), or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Little is known about the cooccurrence of these diseases. If all these diseases are caused by ERV, antiretroviral therapy should perhaps also show some effects in the other diseases. Here, we summarize literature demonstrating that some ERV-associated diseases seem to appear together more often than expected, for example, MS and ALS, MS and T1D, MS and schizophrenia, or ALS and T1D. In contrast, some ERV-associated diseases seem to appear together less frequently than expected, for example, schizophrenia and T1D. Besides, some reports demonstrate amelioration of MS, ALS, or schizophrenia under antiretroviral therapy in human immunodeficiency virus-infected patients. If such results could be confirmed in larger studies, alternative therapy strategies for ERV-associated diseases like MS and schizophrenia might be possible.