Molecular cloning and phylogenetic analysis of the human endogenous retrovirus HERV-K long terminal repeat elements in various cancer cells.
Long terminal repeats (LTRs) of the human endogenous retroviruses K family (HERV-K) have been found to affect expression of genes located nearby. It has been suggested that the HERV-K LTR elements contributed to the structural change in the genome and genetic variation connected to various diseases. We examined the HERV-K LTR elements in human cancer cells. Using genomic DNA from various cancer cells, we performed PCR amplification and identified forty-nine HERV-K LTR elements. Those LTR elements showed a high degree of sequence similarity with human-specific HERV-K LTR elements. A phylogenetic tree, obtained by the neighbor-joining method, revealed that twelve HERV-K LTR elements were closely related to human-specific HERV-K LTR elements. These elements proliferated recently and were detectable in many human cancer cell lines. These results suggest that HERV-K LTR could be implicated in a pathogenic role, although this phenomenon may not directly lead to human cancers. Further studies on the biological function and expression of HERV-K LTR elements in cancer cells are indicated.
Yi
J M
JM
Division of Biological Sciences, College of Natural Sciences, Pusan National University, Korea.
Kim
H M
HM
Kim
H S
HS
D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D020077:Endogenous Retroviruses / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D020079:Terminal Repeat Sequences / Q000235:genetics*; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured