Journal Article DKFZ-2026-02758

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Intratumoral co-activation of ERV transcription and RNA virus-sensing is associated with radiotherapy-induced immune response and abscopal effect.

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2026
Springer Nature [London]

npj precision oncology 10(1), 421 () [10.1038/s41698-026-01715-4]
 GO

Abstract: Radiotherapy (RT) transforms tumors into in situ vaccines that trigger antitumor immunity. However, the relevant pathways remain largely unelucidated, limiting clinical translation. Herein, we developed a hybrid dry-lab/wet-lab approach integrating systems-level immune phenotypes following homogenous or spatially fractionated RT (SFRT) with transcriptomic profiling of irradiated tumors. By combining feature extraction with machine-learning, including multilayer perceptron modeling, we ranked predictors of immune infiltration and patient survivability for each RT type. RT induced coordinated upregulation of viral RNA-binding proteins (OASes and RIG I-like receptors) along with endogenous retrovirus (ERV) RNAs predominately 400-800 bp long, which may serve as their ligands. During abscopal responses, OASes and ERV transcripts were co-induced and shared between irradiated and distant tumors. SFRT triggered earlier activation of OAS signaling versus homogenous RT. Our findings highlight ERVs as underappreciated contributors to RT-induced antitumor immunity and their interactions with intratumoral cytosolic sensors as potential novel biomarkers in precision radio-oncology.

Classification:

Note: #EA:E041#LA:E041#

Contributing Institute(s):
  1. Med. Physik in der Radioonkologie (E041)
Research Program(s):
  1. 315 - Bildgebung und Radioonkologie (POF4-315) (POF4-315)

Appears in the scientific report 2026
Database coverage:
Medline ; DOAJ ; Article Processing Charges ; BIOSIS Previews ; Biological Abstracts ; Clarivate Analytics Master Journal List ; Current Contents - Life Sciences ; DOAJ Seal ; Essential Science Indicators ; Fees ; IF >= 5 ; JCR ; PubMed Central ; SCOPUS ; Science Citation Index Expanded ; Web of Science Core Collection
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 Record created 2026-11-05, last modified 2026-11-06


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