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Updated: Mar 7, 2026

Detection of Retrotransposition Activity of Hot LINE-1s by Long-Distance Inverse PCR
Published on: July 27, 2019
The Human Long Interspersed Element-1 Retrotransposon: An Emerging Biomarker of Neoplasia
Daniel Ardeljan1,2, Martin S Taylor3, David T Ting4
1McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine (IGM) and.
Background:
A large portion of intronic and intergenic space in our genome consists of repeated sequences. One of the most prevalent is the long interspersed element-1 (LINE-1, L1) mobile DNA. LINE-1 is rightly receiving increasing interest as a cancer biomarker.
Content:
Intact LINE-1 elements are self-propagating. They code for RNA and proteins that function to make more copies of the genomic element. Our current understanding is that this process is repressed in most normal cells, but that LINE-1 expression is a hallmark of many types of malignancy. Here, we will consider features of cancer cells when cellular defense mechanisms repressing LINE-1 go awry. We will review evidence that genomic LINE-1 methylation, LINE-1-encoded RNAs, and LINE-1 ORF1p (open reading frame 1 protein) may be useful in cancer diagnosis.
Summary:
The repetitive and variable nature of LINE-1 DNA sequences poses unique challenges to studying them, but recent advances in reagents and next generation sequencing present opportunities to characterize LINE-1 expression and activity in cancers and to identify clinical applications.
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11:04RNA Next-Generation Sequencing and a Bioinformatics Pipeline to Identify Expressed LINE-1s at the Locus-Specific Level
Published on: May 19, 2019
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