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. 2023 Mar 28;11(4):751. doi: 10.3390/vaccines11040751

Table 2.

The roles of various therapies in expression of HERV-K particles in tumors and consequent immune responses.

Types of Therapy HERV-K Target Immune Response Impact on Tumor
MVA-HKcon vaccine [157] Gag [157] Inducing the T cell immune responses, knocking out the cells positive to HERV-K [157] Suppressing growth of the tumor and reducing pulmonary metastases [157]
Active immunization via engineered adenovirus type 5 and 19a/64 carrying ISD-mutant HERV-K Gag and Env [158] Gag and Env [158] Rapid antibody T cell responses in mice, immune tolerance breakdown in non-human primates [158] Suppressing growth of tumors [158]
Anti-HERV-K Env monoclonal antibodies [144] Env [144] mAbs 1 Env and T cell immune response in breast cancer, high number of cell surface molecules in human breast cancer that target the B cell response [144] mAbs: generally restrained development of cancerous cells and promoted apoptosis of them in in vitro conditions [144].
6H5 mAb: diminished expansion of xenograft tumors due to its cytotoxic profile [159].
GN_mAb_EnvK-01: treatment of HERV-K-associated diseases, such as ALS [160]
HERV-K Env inhibitors, such as CuSo4 [161] Env [161] Not yet defined Higher concentration of CuSo4 and restriction of tumor growth [161]
HERV-K reverse transcriptase inhibitors, such as ABC 2 [162] RT 3 [162] Accelerating aging and cell death, affecting the genes responsible for remodeling of chromatin [162] Declining cell growth/spread/ invasiveness of tumoral cells in prostate cancer [162]
CRISPR 4/Cas9 technology Env HERV-K HML-2 knock-out, regression of Ras protein [103], regulating RB and Cyclin B1 proteins, declining the cell multiplication, and inducing apoptosis in vitro [163] Suppressing growth, invasiveness, and dissemination of ovarian tumors [163]
Anti-HIV-1 RT drugs [105] Expression of HERV-K in general [105] Not yet defined Preventing HERV-K expression (such as lamivudine, zidovudine, etc.),
Inhibiting HERV-K expression (Atazanavir) [105]
Anti-coronavirus drugs
Replication of SARS-CoV-2 RNA [165] and expression of HERV-K Inhibiting inflammatory responses [166] Not defined yet
  • (B)

    Steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (e.g., dexamethasone, prednisolone) [164]

 HERV-K expression [164] Inhibiting inflammatory responses [164] Not defined yet
  • (C)

    Anti-TNF drugs fused to the constant end (FC) of immunoglobulin [164]

 HERV-K expression [164] Targeting TNF and ceasing the inflammatory responses [167] Not defined yet

1 mAb: Monoclonal antibodies. 2 ABC: Abacavir. 3 RT: Reverse transcriptase. 4 CRISPR: Clustered regulatory interspaced short palindromic repeats.