Human betaretrovirus (HBRV) (HBRV)

Human betaretrovirus (HBRV) is a putative human retrovirus closely related to the Mouse Mammary Tumor Virus (MMTV), sharing approximately 95% nucleotide identity (Indik et al., 2007). It is primarily associated with the pathogenesis of Primary Biliary Cholangitis (PBC), a chronic autoimmune liver disease, and has also been detected in human breast cancer tissues (Mason et al., 2004; Lawson et al., 2018). HBRV is thought to infect biliary epithelial cells, where it can trigger an immune response through the expression of viral proteins or by inducing the translocation of mitochondrial antigens to the cell surface (Espanol et al., 2020). Clinical interest in HBRV as a therapeutic target has led to trials using combination antiretroviral therapy (cART), including reverse transcriptase and protease inhibitors, which have demonstrated improvements in liver biochemistry in some PBC patients (Lytvyak et al., 2019). However, the low level of viral replication in patients makes detection challenging, and its definitive role as a causative agent remains a topic of significant research and debate within the scientific community.

Other names

Human Mammary Tumor VirusHMTVMouse Mammary Tumor Virus-like virusMMTV-like virus

Inhibition of viral reverse transcriptase, protease, and integrase enzymes to prevent viral replication and integration into host cells.