Active LINE-1 retrotransposons in human testicular cancer.

An antibody to the protein encoded by the first open reading frame of the human LINE-1 (L1Hs) element was used to examine immunohistochemically 59 formalin-fixed, human testicular germ cell tumors. Six tumors were positive for L1Hs expression. In all cases the L1Hs-positive cells were epithelial and most had the very characteristic, undifferentiated appearance of embryonal carcinoma or yolk sac tumor cells. One L1Hs-positive tumor had metastasized to the lung and lymph nodes and the metastatic cells also expressed L1Hs. This is the first observation of widespread retrotransposon expression in human tissue. These observations raise the possibility that L1Hs-encoded proteins may function as oncoproteins in some cancers.