The World of Pseudogenes: New Diagnostic and Therapeutic Targets in Cancers or Still Mystery Molecules?

ABSTRACT: Pseudogenes were once considered as "junk DNA", due to loss of their functions as a result of the accumulation of mutations, such as frameshift and presence of premature stop-codons and relocation of genes to inactive heterochromatin regions of the genome. Pseudogenes are divided into two large groups, processed and unprocessed, according to their primary structure and origin. Only 10% of all pseudogenes are transcribed into RNAs and participate in the regulation of parental gene expression at both transcriptional and translational levels through senseRNA (sRNA) and antisense RNA (asRNA). In this review, about 150 pseudogenes in the different types of cancers were analyzed. Part of these pseudogenes seem to be useful in molecular diagnostics and can be detected in various types of biologic

SUBMITTER: Stasiak M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8705536 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature