Isolation and phylogenetic analysis of HERV-K long terminal repeat cDNA in cancer cells.
Long terminal repeat (LTR) elements of human endogenous retrovirus (HERV-K) may have contributed to disease-associated structural change or genetic variation in the human genome. The LTR elements have been found to be coexpressed with sequences of closely located genes. We identified seven HERV-K LTR elements from mRNA of human cancer cells (HepG2, MCF7, and SiHa), using the RT-PCR approach. Four of them are closely related to the human-specific HERV-K LTR elements with a high degree of sequence homology in a neighbor-joining phylogenetic tree. The data suggest that recently proliferated HERV-K LTR elements are expressed actively in various cancer cells. These HERV-K LTR elements deserve further investigation as potential leads in the treatment of human cancer.
Kim
H S
HS
Division of Biological Sciences, College of Natural Sciences, Pusan National University, Pusan 609-735, South Korea. khs307@hyowon.cc.pusan.ac.kr
Yi
J M
JM
Jeon
S H
SH
D001483:Base Sequence; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D020077:Endogenous Retroviruses / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000821:virology; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D010802:Phylogeny; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D017385:Sequence Homology; D020079:Terminal Repeat Sequences / Q000235:genetics*; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
D018076:DNA, Complementary; D012333:RNA, Messenger