| Name | endogenous retrovirus group W, member 1 |
| Description | Many different human endogenous retrovirus (HERV) families are expressed in normal placental tissue at high levels, suggesting that HERVs are functionally important in reproduction. This gene is part of an HERV provirus on chromosome 7 that has inactivating mutations in the gag and pol genes. This gene is the envelope glycoprotein gene which appears to have been selectively preserved. The gene's protein product is expressed in the placental syncytiotrophoblast and is involved in fusion of the cytotrophoblast cells to form the syncytial layer of the placenta. The protein has the characteristics of a typical retroviral envelope protein, including a furin cleavage site that separates the surface (SU) and transmembrane (TM) proteins which form a heterodimer. Alternatively spliced transcript variants encoding the same protein have been found for this gene. [provided by RefSeq, Mar 2010] |
| Summary |
{"type": "root", "children": [{"type": "p", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "\n ERVW-1, more commonly known as syncytin‐1, is an envelope glycoprotein encoded by the human endogenous retrovirus‐W (HERV‐W) family that exhibits potent fusogenic activity. In the placenta, syncytin‐1 is specifically expressed in trophoblasts and plays a critical role in cell–cell fusion, thereby promoting formation of the multinucleated syncytiotrophoblast layer essential for maternofetal exchange and normal placental development."}, {"type": "fg", "children": [{"type": "fg_fs", "start_ref": "1", "end_ref": "4"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " Its expression is regulated by placenta‐specific transcription factors (for example, GCMa), ensuring that fusion occurs in a spatially restricted manner within the trophoblast compartment. In addition to its physiological role, aberrant or ectopic expression of syncytin‐1 has been implicated in pathological contexts. For instance, increased expression in glial cells has been linked to the generation of neuroinflammatory mediators that are cytotoxic to oligodendrocytes in multiple sclerosis"}, {"type": "fg", "children": [{"type": "fg_f", "ref": "5"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": ", and syncytin‐1 expression in cancer cells appears to facilitate the fusion of tumor cells with endothelial cells, thereby potentially contributing to tumor progression."}, {"type": "fg", "children": [{"type": "fg_f", "ref": "6"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " Moreover, syncytin‐1 localized on exosomes derived from placental cells promotes their uptake by target cells, highlighting an emerging role in intercellular communication and possibly in modulating immune responses."}, {"type": "fg", "children": [{"type": "fg_f", "ref": "7"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": "\n "}]}, {"type": "rg", "children": [{"type": "r", "ref": 1, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "J L Blond, D Lavillette, V Cheynet, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "An envelope glycoprotein of the human endogenous retrovirus HERV-W is expressed in the human placenta and fuses cells expressing the type D mammalian retrovirus receptor."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "J Virol (2000)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1128/jvi.74.7.3321-3329.2000"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1128/jvi.74.7.3321-3329.2000"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10708449"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10708449"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 2, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Jean-Louis Frendo, Delphine Olivier, Valérie Cheynet, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Direct involvement of HERV-W Env glycoprotein in human trophoblast cell fusion and differentiation."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Mol Cell Biol (2003)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1128/MCB.23.10.3566-3574.2003"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1128/MCB.23.10.3566-3574.2003"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "12724415"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12724415"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 3, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Chenchou Yu, Kuofeng Shen, Meiyao Lin, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "GCMa regulates the syncytin-mediated trophoblastic fusion."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "J Biol Chem (2002)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1074/jbc.M209316200"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1074/jbc.M209316200"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "12397062"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12397062"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 4, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Dimitri Lavillette, Mariana Marin, Alessia Ruggieri, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "The envelope glycoprotein of human endogenous retrovirus type W uses a divergent family of amino acid transporters/cell surface receptors."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "J Virol (2002)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1128/jvi.76.13.6442-6452.2002"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1128/jvi.76.13.6442-6452.2002"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "12050356"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12050356"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 5, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Joseph M Antony, Guido van Marle, Wycliffe Opii, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Human endogenous retrovirus glycoprotein-mediated induction of redox reactants causes oligodendrocyte death and demyelination."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Nat Neurosci (2004)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1038/nn1319"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1038/nn1319"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "15452578"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15452578"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 6, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "B Bjerregaard, S Holck, I J Christensen, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Syncytin is involved in breast cancer-endothelial cell fusions."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Cell Mol Life Sci (2006)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1007/s00018-006-6201-9"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1007/s00018-006-6201-9"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "16871371"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16871371"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 7, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Amandine Vargas, Shufeng Zhou, Maude Éthier-Chiasson, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Syncytin proteins incorporated in placenta exosomes are important for cell uptake and show variation in abundance in serum exosomes from patients with preeclampsia."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "FASEB J (2014)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1096/fj.13-239053"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1096/fj.13-239053"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "24812088"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24812088"}]}]}]}
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| Synonyms | HERV-7Q, HERV-W-ENV, HERV7Q, HERVW, ENVW, ERVWE1, HERVWENV, ENV |
| Proteins | SYCY1_HUMAN |
| NCBI Gene ID | 30816 |
| API | |
| Download Associations | |
| Predicted Functions |
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| Co-expressed Genes |
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| Expression in Tissues and Cell Lines |
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ERVW-1 has 6,178 functional associations with biological entities spanning 8 categories (molecular profile, organism, functional term, phrase or reference, disease, phenotype or trait, chemical, structural feature, cell line, cell type or tissue, gene, protein or microRNA) extracted from 53 datasets.
Click the + buttons to view associations for ERVW-1 from the datasets below.
If available, associations are ranked by standardized value
| Dataset | Summary | |
|---|---|---|
| Achilles Cell Line Gene Essentiality Profiles | cell lines with fitness changed by ERVW-1 gene knockdown relative to other cell lines from the Achilles Cell Line Gene Essentiality Profiles dataset. | |
| Allen Brain Atlas Adult Human Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles | tissues with high or low expression of ERVW-1 gene relative to other tissues from the Allen Brain Atlas Adult Human Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles dataset. | |
| Allen Brain Atlas Aging Dementia and Traumatic Brain Injury Tissue Sample Gene Expression Profiles | tissue samples with high or low expression of ERVW-1 gene relative to other tissue samples from the Allen Brain Atlas Aging Dementia and Traumatic Brain Injury Tissue Sample Gene Expression Profiles dataset. | |
| Allen Brain Atlas Developing Human Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles by Microarray | tissue samples with high or low expression of ERVW-1 gene relative to other tissue samples from the Allen Brain Atlas Developing Human Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles by Microarray dataset. | |
| Allen Brain Atlas Prenatal Human Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles | tissues with high or low expression of ERVW-1 gene relative to other tissues from the Allen Brain Atlas Prenatal Human Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles dataset. | |
| CCLE Cell Line Gene Expression Profiles | cell lines with high or low expression of ERVW-1 gene relative to other cell lines from the CCLE Cell Line Gene Expression Profiles dataset. | |
| ChEA Transcription Factor Binding Site Profiles | transcription factor binding site profiles with transcription factor binding evidence at the promoter of ERVW-1 gene from the CHEA Transcription Factor Binding Site Profiles dataset. | |
| ChEA Transcription Factor Targets | transcription factors binding the promoter of ERVW-1 gene in low- or high-throughput transcription factor functional studies from the CHEA Transcription Factor Targets dataset. | |
| COMPARTMENTS Curated Protein Localization Evidence Scores | cellular components containing ERVW-1 protein from the COMPARTMENTS Curated Protein Localization Evidence Scores dataset. | |
| COMPARTMENTS Text-mining Protein Localization Evidence Scores | cellular components co-occuring with ERVW-1 protein in abstracts of biomedical publications from the COMPARTMENTS Text-mining Protein Localization Evidence Scores dataset. | |
| COMPARTMENTS Text-mining Protein Localization Evidence Scores 2025 | cellular components co-occuring with ERVW-1 protein in abstracts of biomedical publications from the COMPARTMENTS Text-mining Protein Localization Evidence Scores 2025 dataset. | |
| COSMIC Cell Line Gene CNV Profiles | cell lines with high or low copy number of ERVW-1 gene relative to other cell lines from the COSMIC Cell Line Gene CNV Profiles dataset. | |
| COSMIC Cell Line Gene Mutation Profiles | cell lines with ERVW-1 gene mutations from the COSMIC Cell Line Gene Mutation Profiles dataset. | |
| DISEASES Text-mining Gene-Disease Association Evidence Scores | diseases co-occuring with ERVW-1 gene in abstracts of biomedical publications from the DISEASES Text-mining Gene-Disease Assocation Evidence Scores dataset. | |
| DISEASES Text-mining Gene-Disease Association Evidence Scores 2025 | diseases co-occuring with ERVW-1 gene in abstracts of biomedical publications from the DISEASES Text-mining Gene-Disease Assocation Evidence Scores 2025 dataset. | |
| DisGeNET Gene-Disease Associations | diseases associated with ERVW-1 gene in GWAS and other genetic association datasets from the DisGeNET Gene-Disease Associations dataset. | |
| DisGeNET Gene-Phenotype Associations | phenotypes associated with ERVW-1 gene in GWAS and other genetic association datasets from the DisGeNET Gene-Phenoptype Associations dataset. | |
| GAD Gene-Disease Associations | diseases associated with ERVW-1 gene in GWAS and other genetic association datasets from the GAD Gene-Disease Associations dataset. | |
| GeneRIF Biological Term Annotations | biological terms co-occuring with ERVW-1 gene in literature-supported statements describing functions of genes from the GeneRIF Biological Term Annotations dataset. | |
| GeneSigDB Published Gene Signatures | PubMedIDs of publications reporting gene signatures containing ERVW-1 from the GeneSigDB Published Gene Signatures dataset. | |
| GEO Signatures of Differentially Expressed Genes for Diseases | disease perturbations changing expression of ERVW-1 gene from the GEO Signatures of Differentially Expressed Genes for Diseases dataset. | |
| GEO Signatures of Differentially Expressed Genes for Gene Perturbations | gene perturbations changing expression of ERVW-1 gene from the GEO Signatures of Differentially Expressed Genes for Gene Perturbations dataset. | |
| GEO Signatures of Differentially Expressed Genes for Small Molecules | small molecule perturbations changing expression of ERVW-1 gene from the GEO Signatures of Differentially Expressed Genes for Small Molecules dataset. | |
| GEO Signatures of Differentially Expressed Genes for Transcription Factor Perturbations | transcription factor perturbations changing expression of ERVW-1 gene from the GEO Signatures of Differentially Expressed Genes for Transcription Factor Perturbations dataset. | |
| GEO Signatures of Differentially Expressed Genes for Viral Infections | virus perturbations changing expression of ERVW-1 gene from the GEO Signatures of Differentially Expressed Genes for Viral Infections dataset. | |
| GO Biological Process Annotations 2015 | biological processes involving ERVW-1 gene from the curated GO Biological Process Annotations 2015 dataset. | |
| GO Biological Process Annotations 2023 | biological processes involving ERVW-1 gene from the curated GO Biological Process Annotations 2023 dataset. | |
| GO Biological Process Annotations 2025 | biological processes involving ERVW-1 gene from the curated GO Biological Process Annotations2025 dataset. | |
| GO Cellular Component Annotations 2015 | cellular components containing ERVW-1 protein from the curated GO Cellular Component Annotations 2015 dataset. | |
| GTEx Tissue Gene Expression Profiles | tissues with high or low expression of ERVW-1 gene relative to other tissues from the GTEx Tissue Gene Expression Profiles dataset. | |
| GTEx Tissue Gene Expression Profiles 2023 | tissues with high or low expression of ERVW-1 gene relative to other tissues from the GTEx Tissue Gene Expression Profiles 2023 dataset. | |
| GTEx Tissue Sample Gene Expression Profiles | tissue samples with high or low expression of ERVW-1 gene relative to other tissue samples from the GTEx Tissue Sample Gene Expression Profiles dataset. | |
| GWAS Catalog SNP-Phenotype Associations 2025 | phenotypes associated with ERVW-1 gene in GWAS datasets from the GWAS Catalog SNP-Phenotype Associations 2025 dataset. | |
| HPA Cell Line Gene Expression Profiles | cell lines with high or low expression of ERVW-1 gene relative to other cell lines from the HPA Cell Line Gene Expression Profiles dataset. | |
| HPA Tissue Gene Expression Profiles | tissues with high or low expression of ERVW-1 gene relative to other tissues from the HPA Tissue Gene Expression Profiles dataset. | |
| HPA Tissue Sample Gene Expression Profiles | tissue samples with high or low expression of ERVW-1 gene relative to other tissue samples from the HPA Tissue Sample Gene Expression Profiles dataset. | |
| HuGE Navigator Gene-Phenotype Associations | phenotypes associated with ERVW-1 gene by text-mining GWAS publications from the HuGE Navigator Gene-Phenotype Associations dataset. | |
| InterPro Predicted Protein Domain Annotations | protein domains predicted for ERVW-1 protein from the InterPro Predicted Protein Domain Annotations dataset. | |
| JASPAR Predicted Human Transcription Factor Targets 2025 | transcription factors regulating expression of ERVW-1 gene predicted using known transcription factor binding site motifs from the JASPAR Predicted Human Transcription Factor Targets dataset. | |
| Klijn et al., Nat. Biotechnol., 2015 Cell Line Gene CNV Profiles | cell lines with high or low copy number of ERVW-1 gene relative to other cell lines from the Klijn et al., Nat. Biotechnol., 2015 Cell Line Gene CNV Profiles dataset. | |
| LOCATE Curated Protein Localization Annotations | cellular components containing ERVW-1 protein in low- or high-throughput protein localization assays from the LOCATE Curated Protein Localization Annotations dataset. | |
| LOCATE Predicted Protein Localization Annotations | cellular components predicted to contain ERVW-1 protein from the LOCATE Predicted Protein Localization Annotations dataset. | |
| MSigDB Signatures of Differentially Expressed Genes for Cancer Gene Perturbations | gene perturbations changing expression of ERVW-1 gene from the MSigDB Signatures of Differentially Expressed Genes for Cancer Gene Perturbations dataset. | |
| NIBR DRUG-seq U2OS MoA Box Gene Expression Profiles | drug perturbations changing expression of ERVW-1 gene from the NIBR DRUG-seq U2OS MoA Box dataset. | |
| Pathway Commons Protein-Protein Interactions | interacting proteins for ERVW-1 from the Pathway Commons Protein-Protein Interactions dataset. | |
| PerturbAtlas Signatures of Differentially Expressed Genes for Gene Perturbations | gene perturbations changing expression of ERVW-1 gene from the PerturbAtlas Signatures of Differentially Expressed Genes for Gene Perturbations dataset. | |
| RummaGEO Drug Perturbation Signatures | drug perturbations changing expression of ERVW-1 gene from the RummaGEO Drug Perturbation Signatures dataset. | |
| RummaGEO Gene Perturbation Signatures | gene perturbations changing expression of ERVW-1 gene from the RummaGEO Gene Perturbation Signatures dataset. | |
| TISSUES Curated Tissue Protein Expression Evidence Scores | tissues with high expression of ERVW-1 protein from the TISSUES Curated Tissue Protein Expression Evidence Scores dataset. | |
| TISSUES Curated Tissue Protein Expression Evidence Scores 2025 | tissues with high expression of ERVW-1 protein from the TISSUES Curated Tissue Protein Expression Evidence Scores 2025 dataset. | |
| TISSUES Experimental Tissue Protein Expression Evidence Scores 2025 | tissues with high expression of ERVW-1 protein in proteomics datasets from the TISSUES Experimental Tissue Protein Expression Evidence Scores 2025 dataset. | |
| TISSUES Text-mining Tissue Protein Expression Evidence Scores | tissues co-occuring with ERVW-1 protein in abstracts of biomedical publications from the TISSUES Text-mining Tissue Protein Expression Evidence Scores dataset. | |
| TISSUES Text-mining Tissue Protein Expression Evidence Scores 2025 | tissues co-occuring with ERVW-1 protein in abstracts of biomedical publications from the TISSUES Text-mining Tissue Protein Expression Evidence Scores 2025 dataset. | |
