Table 1.
Summary of HML-2 alterations detected in patient specimens and their associated clinical parameters.
| Cancer Type | Observed Change in HML-2 | Clinical Association | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Breast | ↑ Env transcript and protein expression | ↑ Disease stage, lymph node metastasis, ↓ overall survival | (65) |
| ↑ transcript expression | ↑ in basal-like vs HER+/luminal tumours | (66) | |
| ↑ serum HML-2 mRNA | Early marker of metastatic risk | (67, 68) | |
| Prostate | ↑ HERV-K_22q11.23 5’LTR-gag and env | (44) | |
| ↑ HERV-K_22q11.23 Gag | (43) | ||
| ↑ gag mRNA in PBMCs | ↑ odds of prostate cancer diagnosis | (69) | |
| ↑ Gag autoantibodies | Correlated with clinical stage, Gleason score, eventual metastasis, worse overall survival and faster recurrence | (43) | |
| Melanoma | ↑ Env protein | ||
| HML-2 5’-LTR hypomethylation | Lymph node positivity, ↑ tumour stage, ↑ risk of recurrence, ↓ disease-free survival | (70) | |
| ↑ Env and Gag autoantibodies | Acrolentiginous/mucosal/uveal subtypes, associated with disease stage and ↓ survival probability | (71) | |
| Lung | ↑ env mRNA in blood | Distinguished adenocarcinoma from squamous cell and small cell lung cancers | (72) |
| Hepatocellular | ↑ transcript expression | Associated with liver cirrhosis, tumour differentiation, TNM stage and worse overall survival | (73) |
| Colorectal | HML-2 5’-LTR hypomethylation | (74) | |
| ↑ Env protein | (75) | ||
| Soft Tissue Sarcoma | ↑ transcript expression | Worse relapse-free survival | (76) |
| Leukaemia | ↑ Np9 mRNA and protein | (77, 78) | |
| Lymphoma | ↑ transcript expression | Transcript expression decreased with treatment | (79) |