Characterising a human endogenous retrovirus(HERV)-derived tumour-associated antigen: enriched RNA-Seq analysis of HERV-K(HML-2) in mantle cell lymphoma cell lines.

A possible dependency of Env expression on a single provirus, combined with the earlier observation that this provirus is not present in all individuals and a general pattern of tissue-specific expression among proviruses, has serious implications for future HERV-K(HML-2)-targeted immunotherapy. Further research into HERV-K(HML-2) as a possible tumour-associated antigen in blood cancers requires a more targeted, proteome-based, screening protocol that will consider these polymorphisms within HERV-K(HML-2). We include a plan (and necessary alignments) for such work.