The progress of research on transposons in diagnosis and treatment of urological malignancies / 中华泌尿外科杂志

ABSTRACT

Transposons are the most prevalent elements in human genomes, which plays a vital role in gene expression regulation and evolutionary processes. They also jeopardize genome integrity with the characteristics of jumping and insertions. A delicate balance is maintained between the benefits and deleterious aspects of transposons, mediated by the epigenetic regulatory system. Once the balance is broken, it will give rise to genomic instability, leading to neoplasia. A lot of studies have shown that the transcriptional activation, expression products and methylation of transposons are closely related with urological malignancies, holding tremendous potential as biomarkers for risk and effect prediction, noninvasive diagnosis and targeted therapies of urological malignancies. In this article, the molecular mechanisms of transposons underlying the initiation, promotion and progression of urological malignancies as well as advances in diagnosis and treatment are reviewed.