Influenza infection activates ERVWE1 by increasing Glial cells missing homolog 1(GCM1) transcription and reducing repressive histone marks (H3K9me3)(F. Li et al., 2014), whereas SARS-CoV-2 upregulates HERV-W env in lymphoid cells (Charvet et al., 2023), highlighting the role of HERVs as a bridge in virus-mediated schizophrenia pathogenesis. The gene discussed is ERVW-1; the disease is schizophrenia.