Synergy of two human endogenous retroviruses in multiple myeloma

• We have studied SNPs in or near human endogenous retroviruses (HERV).
• SNPs near two HERV associate with risk of multiple myeloma (MM).
• HERV-Fc1 on Chromosome X and HERV-K on Chromosome 1 contribute to MM.
• The two SNPs synergize strongly in MM.
• This may mean that the viruses recombine or complement each other in MM.

Multiple myeloma (MM) is a severe, incurable neoplasm of the plasma cells. In this study we have used genetic epidemiology to associate the risk of MM with endogenous retroviral loci in humans. We used SNP analysis on a Sequenom® platform and statistical analysis in SPSS. Markers near two endogenous retroviral loci, HERV-Fc1 on chromosome X and HERV-K on chromosome 1, were associated with MM. Moreover, there was strong gene–gene interaction in relation to risk of MM. We take this as indirect confirmation of the association.