A tumor-promoting mechanism mediated by retrotransposon-encoded reverse transcriptase is active in human transformed cell lines.

ABSTRACT: LINE-1 elements make up the most abundant retrotransposon family in the human genome. Full-length LINE-1 elements encode a reverse transcriptase (RT) activity required for their own retrotranpsosition as well as that of non-autonomous Alu elements. LINE-1 are poorly expressed in normal cells and abundantly in cancer cells. Decreasing RT activity in cancer cells, by either LINE-1-specific RNA interference, or by RT inhibitory drugs, was previously found to reduce proliferation and promote differentiation and to antagonize tumor growth in animal models. Here we have investigated how RT exerts these global regulatory functions. We report that the RT inhibitor efavirenz (EFV) selectively downregulates proliferation of transformed cell lines, while exerting only mild effects on non-transformed

SUBMITTER: Sciamanna I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3926826 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature