1. Human Endogenous Retrovirus Expression Is Upregulated in the Breast Cancer Microenvironment of HIV Infected Women: A Pilot Study
- Author
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Gislaine Curty, Greta A. Beckerle, Luis P. Iñiguez, Robert L. Furler, Pedro S. de Carvalho, Jez L. Marston, Stephane Champiat, Jonas J. Heymann, Christopher E. Ormsby, Gustavo Reyes-Terán, Marcelo A. Soares, Douglas F. Nixon, Matthew L. Bendall, Fabio E. Leal, and Miguel de Mulder Rougvie
- Subjects
breast cancer ,HIV ,human endogenous retrovirus ,retrotranscriptome ,microenvironment ,formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded ,Neoplasms. Tumors. Oncology. Including cancer and carcinogens ,RC254-282 - Abstract
In people living with HIV (PLWH), chronic inflammation can lead to cancer initiation and progression, besides driving a dysregulated and diminished immune responsiveness. HIV infection also leads to increased transcription of Human Endogenous Retroviruses (HERVs), which could increase an inflammatory environment and create a tumor growth suppressive environment with high expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines. In order to determine the impact of HIV infection to HERV expression on the breast cancer microenvironment, we sequenced total RNA from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) breast cancer samples of women HIV-negative and HIV-positive for transcriptome and retrotranscriptome analyses. We performed RNA extraction from FFPE samples, library preparation and total RNA sequencing (RNA-seq). The RNA-seq analysis shows 185 differentially expressed genes: 181 host genes (178 upregulated and three downregulated) and four upregulated HERV transcripts in HIV-positive samples. We also explored the impact of HERV expression in its neighboring breast cancer development genes (BRCA1, CCND1, NBS1/NBN, RAD50, KRAS, PI3K/PIK3CA) and in long non-coding RNA expression (AC060780.1, also known as RP11-242D8.1). We found a significant positive association of HERV expression with RAD50 and with AC060780.1, which suggest a possible role of HERV in regulating breast cancer genes from PLWH with breast cancer. In addition, we found immune system, extracellular matrix organization and metabolic signaling genes upregulated in HIV-positive breast cancer. In conclusion, our findings provide evidence of transcriptional and retrotranscriptional changes in breast cancer from PLWH compared to non-HIV breast cancer, including dysregulation of HERVs, suggesting an indirect effect of the virus on the breast cancer microenvironment.
- Published
- 2020
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