Karttunen Konsta, Patel Divyesh, Sahu Biswajyoti
Applied Tumor Genomics Program, Research Programs Unit, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
iCAN Digital Precision Cancer Medicine Flagship, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
Bioessays. 2024 Oct;46(10):e2400059. doi: 10.1002/bies.202400059. Epub 2024 Jul 29.
Transposable elements (TEs) have emerged as important factors in establishing the cell type-specific gene regulatory networks and evolutionary novelty of embryonic and placental development. Recently, studies on the role of TEs and their dysregulation in cancers have shed light on the transcriptional, transpositional, and regulatory activity of TEs, revealing that the activation of developmental transcriptional programs by TEs may have a role in the dedifferentiation of cancer cells to the progenitor-like cell states. This essay reviews the recent evidence of the cis-regulatory TEs (henceforth crTE) in normal development and malignancy as well as the key transcription factors and regulatory pathways that are implicated in both cell states, and presents existing gaps remaining to be studied, limitations of current technologies, and therapeutic possibilities.
转座元件（TEs）已成为建立细胞类型特异性基因调控网络以及胚胎和胎盘发育进化新奇性的重要因素。最近，关于TEs及其失调在癌症中的作用的研究揭示了TEs的转录、转座和调控活性，表明TEs对发育转录程序的激活可能在癌细胞去分化为祖细胞样细胞状态中发挥作用。本文综述了顺式调控TEs（以下简称crTE）在正常发育和恶性肿瘤中的最新证据，以及与这两种细胞状态相关的关键转录因子和调控途径，并指出了有待研究的空白、当前技术的局限性以及治疗可能性。
