逆转录转座子LINE-1与肿瘤的发生和发展

The connection between LINE-1 retrotransposition and human tumorigenesis

LINE-1是现今人体内存在的唯一具有自主转座活性的转座子,约有500 000个拷贝,占人类基因组总量的17%。LINE-1是通过转录和逆转录在内的转座过程产生新的DNA拷贝,并使新产生的DNA拷贝插入基因组的不同位置。LINE-1转座会影响基因组中其他基因的表达或调控,因而会对基因组的稳定性产生影响,从而导致基因疾病或肿瘤的发生。本文总结了近年来国际上对LINE-1转座与肿瘤的发生和发展之间关系的研究进展,为肿瘤的治疗和机制研究提供一些线索。

LINE-1 is the only currently known active autonomous transposon in humans with an estimated 500 000 copies representing 17% of the human genome. LINE-1 propagates itself through a process called retrotransposi- tion, which includes transcription and reverstranscription, to produce new DNA copies. The new produced DNA copies can integrate into new genomic loci. The insertion of LINE- 1 is able to cause genetic instability by af- fecting the expression or regulation of the nearby genes, thus causing dozens of genetic diseases or tumors. In this review, we summarize the recent research progress on the connection between LINE-1 retrotransposition and human tumorigenesis, which might shed light on the biology mechanisms and treatment of the tumorigenesis.