Cited by 304Cancer Immunotherapy and BiomarkersRenal cell carcinoma treatmentImmunotherapy and Immune Responses

Endogenous retroviral signatures predict immunotherapy response in clear cell renal cell carcinoma

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Smith, Christof C., Beckermann, Kathryn E., Bortone, Dante S., De Cubas, Aguirre A., Bixby, Lisa M., Lee, Samuel J., Panda, Anshuman, Ganesan, Shridar +10 more·2018·Journal of Clinical Investigation

Abstract

Human endogenous retroviruses (hERVs) are remnants of exogenous retroviruses that have integrated into the genome throughout evolution. We developed a computational workflow, hervQuant, which identified more than 3,000 transcriptionally active hERVs within The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) pan-cancer RNA-Seq database. hERV expression was associated with clinical prognosis in several tumor types, most significantly clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC). We explored two mechanisms by which hERV expression may influence the tumor immune microenvironment in ccRCC: (i) RIG-I-like signaling and (ii) retroviral antigen activation of adaptive immunity. We demonstrated the ability of hERV signatures associated with these immune mechanisms to predict patient survival in ccRCC, independent of clinical staging and molecular subtyping. We identified potential tumor-specific hERV epitopes with evidence of translational activity through the use of a ccRCC ribosome profiling (Ribo-Seq) dataset, validated their ability to bind HLA in vitro, and identified the presence of MHC tetramer-positive T cells against predicted epitopes. hERV sequences identified through this screening approach were significantly more highly expressed in ccRCC tumors responsive to treatment with programmed death receptor 1 (PD-1) inhibition. hervQuant provides insights into the role of hERVs within the tumor immune microenvironment, as well as evidence that hERV expression could serve as a biomarker for patient prognosis and response to immunotherapy.

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  • Increased expression of ERVs, including a full-length HERV4700 element, was significantly associated with improved response to PD-1/PD-L1 blockade in clear cell renal cell carcinoma.

    “increased expression of ERVs, including a full-length HERV4700 element, was significantly associated with improved response to PD-1/PD-L1 blockade in clear cell renal cell carcinoma32,33.”

    From Multi-omic analysis of hepatocellular carcinoma reveals aberrant cis-regulatory changes and dysregulated retrotransposons with prognostic potential (2025) · cites this paper as [32]

    The paper title (unpaginated in our copy) says endogenous retroviral signatures predict immunotherapy response in clear cell renal cell carcinoma. The available passages do not establish that increased expression predicts improved response, identify a full-length HERV4700 element, or specify a significant association with PD-1/PD-L1 blockade. Searches for HERV4700 and treatment-response terms returned no Results passages. (LLM, conf=0.68)

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Authors
Smith, C. C., Beckermann, K. E., Bortone, D. S., De Cubas, A. A., Bixby, L. M., Lee, S. J., Panda, A., Ganesan, S., Bhanot, G., Wallen, E. M., Milowsky, M. I., Kim, W. Y., Rathmell, W. K., Swanstrom, R., Parker, J. S., Serody, J. S., Selitsky, S. R., & Vincent, B. G.
Affiliations
  • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (US)
  • Vanderbilt University Medical Center (US)
  • Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (US)
Venue
Journal of Clinical Investigation
Published
2018-10-02
Volume
128
Issue
11
Pages
4804-4820
ISSN
  • 0021-9738 (ISSN-L)
  • 1558-8238
OpenAlex
W2888593931
Cited by
303
References
63
Citations by year
2026: 16 · 2025: 37 · 2024: 30 · 2023: 48 · 2022: 52 · 2021: 47 · 2020: 53 · 2019: 18 · 2018: 2
FWCI
11.28
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by
Locations
  • Journal of Clinical Investigation (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Rutgers University Community Repository (Rutgers University) (submittedVersion)
  • Carolina Digital Repository (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) (submittedVersion)
  • UNC Libraries
Funders
  • UNC Oncology Clinical Translational Research Training Program (5K12CA120780)
  • National Institute of Health (5-P50-CA058223-22, 2-P30-CA016086-40, 1-U24-CA210988-01, U54-CA198999, 1F30CA225136-01)
  • Forbeck Foundation Collaborative Research Award (NA)
  • UNC University Cancer Research Fund (NA)
  • Merck-Cancer Research Institute Irvington Postdoctoral Fellowship (NA)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › Cancer Immunotherapy and Biomarkers
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine › Renal cell carcinoma treatment
  • Life Sciences › Immunology and Microbiology › Immunology › Immunotherapy and Immune Responses
Keywords
human endogenous retroviruses, clear cell renal cell carcinoma, immunotherapy response prediction, anti-PD-1 therapy, tumor immune microenvironment, HLA binding, prognostic factors, ribosome profiling, T cell response
MeSH terms
Carcinoma, Renal Cell, Humans, Immunotherapy, Kidney Neoplasms, Prognosis, Endogenous Retroviruses, Tumor Microenvironment

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