Structural and quantitative expression analyses of HERV gene family in human tissues.
Human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs) have been implicated in the pathogenesis of several human diseases as multi-copy members in the human genome. Their gene expression profiling could provide us with important insights into the pathogenic relationship between HERVs and cancer. In this study, we have evaluated the genomic structure and quantitatively determined the expression patterns in the env gene of a variety of HERV family members located on six specific loci by the RetroTector 10 program, as well as real-time RT-PCR amplification. The env gene transcripts evidenced significant differences in the human tumor/normal adjacent tissues (colon, liver, uterus, lung and testis). As compared to the adjacent normal tissues, high levels of expression were noted in testis tumor tissues for HERV-K, in liver and lung tumor tissues for HERV-R, in liver, lung, and testis tumor tissues for HERV-H, and in colon and liver tumor tissues for HERV-P. These data warrant further studies with larger groups of patients to develop biomarkers for specific human cancers.
Ahn
Kung
K
Department of Biological Sciences, College of Natural Sciences, Pusan National University, Busan, 609-735, Korea.
Kim
Heui-Soo
HS
D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D002881:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 12 / Q000235:genetics; D002883:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 14 / Q000235:genetics; D002889:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 2 / Q000235:genetics; D002897:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 7 / Q000235:genetics; D003106:Colon / Q000821:virology; D020077:Endogenous Retroviruses / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D015967:Gene Expression Regulation, Viral; D015894:Genome, Human / Q000235:genetics*; D016679:Genome, Viral / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000821:virology; D008168:Lung / Q000821:virology; D008297:Male; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013045:Species Specificity; D013737:Testis / Q000821:virology; D014599:Uterus / Q000821:virology; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins / Q000235:genetics
D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins