Human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs), the remains of retroviruses infection in our ancestors’ germline cell over millions of years, take up about 8% of the human genome in total. HERV transcription has been detected in various cancers and diseases. However, the interaction between HERV expression and viral infection has not been fully elucidated. Here, we provided the first transcriptional profile of HERVs in dengue virus serotype 2 (DENV-2) infected A549 cells by using high-throughput RNA sequencing. The results showed that a number of HERVs and human genes were significantly differentially expressed in response to DENV-2 infection. Further bioinformatic analyses indicated a correlation between HERVs and human genes. In particular, the genes near the HERVs activated by dengue infection were dominantly enriched in the antiviral immune response. Taken together, our findings suggest that activated HERVs may be involved in the cellular immune response to viral infection by coexpressing with nearby host genes.

人类内源性逆转录病毒（HERV）是数百万年来我们祖先的生殖细胞中逆转录病毒感染的残留物，约占人类基因组的8％。已在多种癌症和疾病中检测到HERV转录。然而，尚未完全阐明HERV表达与病毒感染之间的相互作用。在这里，我们通过使用高通量RNA测序提供了在登革热病毒血清型2（DENV-2）感染的A549细胞中HERV的第一个转录谱。结果表明，许多HERV和人类基因在DENV-2感染的应答中明显差异表达。进一步的生物信息学分析表明，HERV与人类基因之间存在相关性。特别是，登革热感染激活的HERV附近的基因在抗病毒免疫反应中占优势。