Influence of retroelements on the risk of prostate cancer

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Abstract

In 85–95 % of cases, prostate cancer is a multifactorial disease associated with aging and 269 SNPs (single-nucleotide polymorphisms) most of which are located between protein-coding genes and in their introns. The effect of such a number of polymorphisms on disease development is explained by the fact that retroelement genes and non-coding RNA genes evolved from them are located in the SNP areas. As a result, prostate cancer-associated polymorphisms cause changes in retroelement activity leading to the observed epigenetic abnormalities and genomic instability because retroelements induce chromosomal rearrangement. Many studies have shown pathological activation of LINE (long interspersed nuclear elements), SINE (short interspersed nuclear elements) and HERV (human endogenous retroviruses) in patients with prostate cancer. Additionally, retroelements serve as the base of mature long non-coding RNAs involved in disease pathogenesis, and processed retroelement transcripts function as competitive endogenic RNAs. Analysis of scientific literature allowed to describe 22 microRNAs evolved from retroelements and involved in prostate cancer carcinogenesis which can potentially be used as instruments for targeted therapy of the disease.

About the authors

Rustam N. Mustafin

Bashkir State Medical University, Ministry of Health of Russia

Author for correspondence.
Email: ruji79@mail.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0002-4091-382X
Russian Federation, 3 Lenina St., Ufa 450008

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