A study finds that a fragment of an ancient retrovirus called HK2, integrated in human ancestors before the emergence of Neanderthals near a gene that regulates dopaminergic activity, is found 2.5 times more frequently in a Greek population of 202 people who contracted HIV through intravenous drug use and 3.6 times more frequently in a hepatitis-C-positive UK population of 184 people infected through intravenous drug use, compared with control populations, suggesting that HK2 may contribute to dopaminergic manipulation and may be an underappreciated pathogenic burden.
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Article #18-11940: "Human Endogenous Retrovirus-K HML-2 integration within RASGRF2 is associated with intravenous drug abuse and modulates transcription in a cell-line model," by Timokratis Karamitros et al.
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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences