Abstract
BACKGROUND: Endogenous retroviruses, previously deemed "junk" DNA, have gained attention in recent scientific studies. These inherited genomic elements are now recognized for their potential roles in diseases, especially cancer, highlighting their value as potential diagnostic or therapeutic targets. OBJECTIVE: This research aims to explore the association between human endogenous retroviruses (HERV) and gastric cancer, focusing on discerning HERV expression patterns and understanding their implications in gastric cancer pathology. METHODS: A quantitative analysis of HERV expression was conducted, employing Support Vector Machine (SVM) and AdaBoost algorithms to identify discriminative HERVs. The co-regulation network between protein-coding genes and HERVs was constructed using the Weighted Gene Co-expression Network Analysis (WGCNA). RESULTS: Three distinct HERVs (LTR16A|72|451, LTR91|636|874, LTR27D|87|222) were identified as significantly different. Strong correlations were found between HERVs, and gene sets enriched in the inflammatory pathway. CONCLUSIONS: HERVs appear to influence abnormal inflammatory responses, suggesting a pivotal role in gastric cancer development.