Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
Bioessays. 2010 Oct;32(10):856-65. doi: 10.1002/bies.201000008. Epub 2010 Aug 16.
This article proposes that cancers can be initiated by retrotransposon (RTN) activation through changes in the transcriptional regulation of nearby genes. I first detail the hypothesis and then discuss the nature of physiological stress(es) in RTN activation; the role of DNA demethylation in the initiation and propagation of new RTN states; the connection between ageing and cancer incidence and the involvement of activated RTNs in the chromosomal aberrations that feature in cancer progression. The hypothesis neither replaces nor invalidates other theories of cancer, in particular the somatic mutation theory, but helps clarify and unify much of the hitherto poorly integrated, complex phenomenology of cancer.
本文提出，逆转录转座子 (RTN) 的激活可以引发癌症，其途径是附近基因转录调控的改变。我首先详细阐述这一假说，然后讨论 RTN 激活中的生理应激本质；DNA 去甲基化在新 RTN 状态的起始和传播中的作用；衰老与癌症发病率之间的关系，以及在癌症进展中出现的染色体畸变中激活的 RTN 的作用。这一假说既没有取代也没有否定癌症的其他理论，特别是体细胞突变理论，但有助于阐明和统一迄今为止整合程度较差、复杂的癌症现象学。
