Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39850893›Full record

ArticleFrontiers in immunology2024

Subtype-specific human endogenous retrovirus K102 envelope protein is a novel serum immunosuppressive biomarker of cancer.

Qinyuan Gong, Rongzhen Xu

Erratum issuedAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Frontiers in immunology, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 3 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
  3. The role of HERV envelope protein in ovarian cancer.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2025
    Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors.

Qinyuan GongDepartment of Hematology and Cancer Institute (Key Laboratory of Cancer Prevention and Intervention, China National Ministry of Education), The Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China.
Rongzhen XuDepartment of Hematology and Cancer Institute (Key Laboratory of Cancer Prevention and Intervention, China National Ministry of Education), The Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Immune dysfunction is one of the hallmarks of cancer and plays critical roles in immunotherapy resistance, but there is no serum biomarker that can be used to evaluate immune-dysfunction status of cancer patients. Here, we identified subtype-specific human endogenous retrovirus K102 envelope (HERV-K102-Env) with immunosuppressive activity in circulating blood as a novel serum immunosuppressive biomarker of cancer. We first generated monoclonal antibodies against K102-Env with high sensitivity and specificity, and we developed an ELISA assay to detect serum K102-Env. We then investigated whether K102-Env and K108-Env proteins are present in circulating blood of cancer patients. We found K108-Env proteins were present in serum of both patients with cancer and healthy individuals. In contrast, K102-Env markedly increased in patients with PDAC, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) compared with healthy controls. The positive rates of K102-Env were 34.00%, 39%, and 28.0% in PDAC, HCC, and NSCLC, respectively, whereas only 5.0% of healthy individuals had marginally increased K102-Env. In the sera of PDAC patients, K102-Env was 36.63-fold higher than that of healthy controls. K102-Env significantly upregulated PD-1/PD-L1 and c-Myc expression levels of T cells. Importantly, serum K102-Env levels correlated well with advanced cancers and tumor biomarkers CA19-9 and AFP. These findings indicate that circulating K102-Env protein is a novel serum biomarker for evaluating immunosuppressive status and disease stage of patients with cancer.

Indexed as

Biomarkers, TumorEndogenous RetrovirusesGene Products, envNeoplasmsViral Envelope ProteinsAdultAgedAnimalsCarcinoma, HepatocellularFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedBiomarkers, TumorGene Products, envViral Envelope Proteinscancer immunosuppressionendogenous retrovirusesHERV-K102HML-2 subtypeserum biomarker

Identifiers

PMID39850893
PMCPMC11754298

What Socratic holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.