Molecular Phylogenetic Analysis of the Human Endogenous Retrovirus E (HERV-E) Family in Human Tissues and Human Cancers

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

<P>The human genome is estimated to contain up to 50 copies of full-length and truncated members of HERV-E family. They are thought to be involved in human gene transcription. Here we examine the expression pattern and phylogenetic relationships of the HERV-E in diverse human tissues and cancer cells using RT-PCR amplification and bioinformatic tools. The <I>env</I> gene was expressed in many human tissues (brain, prostate, testis, kidney, placenta, spleen, thymus and uterus) but not in heart, liver, lung and skeletal muscle, importantly, HERV-E expression was detected in all cancer cell lines examined (RT4, PFSK-1, BT-474, HCT-116, TE-1, UO-31, Jurkat, HepG2, A549, MCF7, OVCAR-3, MIA-PaCa-2, PC3, LOX-IMVI, AZ521, 2F7, U-937 and C-33A), suggesting that HERV-E family are expressed corresponding to the transcriptional program of human tissues and human cancer cells. Phylogenetic analysis of HERV-E <I>env</I> family from human tissues, cancer cells and our previous data identify two groups (I and II) through evolutionary divergence. Taken together, HERV-E family expression in human tissues and human cancer cells exhibited close relationships of the <I>env</I> gene sequences across human chromosomes. These active HERV-E elements deserve further investigation as potential pathogenic factors in human diseases such as cancers.</P>