2025 — Exosomal HERV-K as MND/ALS biomarker

One-paragraph summary

Plasma-derived exosomes isolated from 21 ALS patients vs. 16 healthy controls. Exosomal HERV-K gag, env, and pol transcripts quantified. For the project, this paper pairs with the 2025 exosomal pHERV-W ENV MS biomarker paper (also ingested this run) to establish exosomal HERV protein/transcript capture as a cross-condition biomarker methodology. Together: HERV-W and HERV-K, MS and ALS, protein and transcript — the methodology generalizes across HERV family, indication, and biomolecule type. Directly relevant to the FM biomarker-mapping cohort's HERV-W ENV dimension (#5) methodology refinement.

Claims as triples

• HERV_K — present_in → amyotrophic_lateral_sclerosis [evidence: exosomal capture in ALS patients vs controls; confidence: emerging]
• exosomal_biomarker — bridges → HERV_reactivation [evidence: cross-condition methodology for HERV protein/transcript capture; confidence: emerging]
• exosomal_biomarker — bridges → fm_central_only [evidence: methodology applicable to FM HERV-W ENV measurement; confidence: bridging]

Triangulation notes

• Pairs with the 2025 exosomal pHERV-W ENV MS paper for cross-condition methodology validation.
• Reinforces the biomarker-mapping cohort design refinement: HERV-W ENV dimension #5 should consider exosomal capture.
• Anchors the WL-3 watchlist query (Avindra Nath Triumeq trial in ALS) at the biomarker-validation level, even though it's not an antiretroviral efficacy readout.
• Discovered via watchlist query WL-3.