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Updated: Jun 1, 2026

Microarray-based Identification of Individual HERV Loci Expression: Application to Biomarker Discovery in Prostate Cancer
Published on: November 2, 2013
Identification and detection of a novel human endogenous retrovirus-related gene, and structural characterization of
Qiaoyi Liang1, Jiayi Ding, Shu Zheng
1Cancer Institute, Second Affiliated Hospital and Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Cancer Prevention and Intervention, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou China.
Abstract:
Up-regulation of human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs) is associated with many diseases, including cancer. In this study, an H family HERV (HERV-H)-related gene was identified and characterized. Its spliced transcript lacks protein-coding capacity and may belong to the emerging class of noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs). The 1.3-kb RNA consisting of four exons is transcribed from an Alu element upstream of a 5.0-kb structurally incomplete HERV-H element. RT-PCR and quantitative RT-PCR results indicated that expression of this HERV-related transcript was negatively associated with colon, stomach, and kidney cancers. Its expression was induced upon treatment with DNA methylation and histone deacetylation inhibitors. A BLAT search using long terminal repeats (LTRs) identified 50 other LTR homogenous HERV-H elements. Further analysis of these elements revealed that all are structurally incomplete and only five exert transcriptional activity. The results presented here recommend further investigation into a potentially functional HERV-H-related ncRNA.
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