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FUNCTIONAL ERVs. "Although most ERV sequences in the human genome are coding defective, some HERVs still encode proteins that appear to have become essential human genes or that appear to be involved in human diseases." http://www.els.net/WileyCDA/ElsArticle/refId-a0020825.html View in LinkedIn

RECOMBINANT INNOVATION. "Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and now their modern counterparts were able to create one breakthrough after another because they built innovation strategies around recombining existing technologies rather than inventing new ones." https://lnkd.in/eGbBMDi View in LinkedIn

"A HERV encoded protein is essentially involved in placenta development. Other HERV encoded proteins may serve as biomarkers for certain tumour types or may be involved in tumour development." http://www.els.net/WileyCDA/ElsArticle/refId-a0020825.html View in LinkedIn

LUCKY FLUKE. "It is amazing to think that an evolutionary innovation of such consequence — the placenta — was essentially pulled from the genomic junk drawer!" http://schaechter.asmblog.org/schaechter/2014/06/retroviruses-the-placenta-and-the-genomic-junk-drawer.html View in LinkedIn

MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS. "Several viruses have been proposed as co-factors of MS. Among them, there were some members of the family of Herpesviridae, such as the human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6), and the Epstein- Barr virus (EBV), along with HERV- W/MSRV/syncytin-1." http://jidc.org/index.php/journal/article/view/26142666/1316 View in LinkedIn

JUNK DRAWER. "Since ERVs are not random bits of DNA but complex sequences that code for various functional domains such as binding sites, proteases, promoters, and fusion domains, the likelihood of pulling something useful out of the ERV junk drawer is rather high, even if the item wasn't originally designed for the particular task." http://schaechter.asmblog.org/schaechter/2014/06/retroviruses-the-placenta-and-the-genomic-junk-drawer.html View in LinkedIn

NEUROTOXICITY. "MSRVenv and syncytin-1 proteins share several biological features, and are potentially pathogenic. They have pro-inflammatory and superantigenic properties, and have been shown to cause neurotoxic effects in vitro and in human or transgenic animal models. The proteins may cause neuroinflammation, neurodegeneration, alterations of the immune system, and stress responses; both have been suggested as co-factors triggering the immuno-pathogenesis of MS." http://jidc.org/index.php/journal/article/view/26142666/1316 View in LinkedIn

"ALIENS INSIDE HUMAN DNA: HERV-W/MSRV/syncytin-1 endogenous retroviruses and neurodegeneration. HERV-W/MSRV has been repeatedly found in MS patients (in blood, spinal fluid, and brain samples), and MRSV presence/load strikingly parallels MS stages and active/remission phases, as well as therapy outcome. The DNA of MS patients has increased MSRVenv copies, while syncytin-1 copies are unchanged in controls." https://lnkd.in/eZe8TGB View in LinkedIn

THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COIN. ERVs have contributed to the evolutionary jump forward of the placenta, among other positive contributions. However, they have also been associated with various pathologies. View in LinkedIn

PREGNANCY COLDS. "Pregnancy increases susceptibility to influenza. The placenta releases an immunosuppressive endogenous retroviral protein syncytin-1. We hypothesised that exposure of peripheral monocytes (PBMCs) to syncytin-1 would impair responses to H1N1pdm09 influenza. Our data indicates that a placental derived protein, syncytin-1 may be responsible for the heightened vulnerability of pregnant women to influenza." https://lnkd.in/eh2HvRt View in LinkedIn