Role of Endogenous Retroviral Sequences in Breast Cancer

摘要

We have developed an approach to the identification of retroposed retroviral sequences in the human genome. This method uses nested PCR directed toward the LTRs of endogenous retroviruses, and arbitrary priming to complete the other end of the PCR product. Our results indicate that we can reliably identify sequences flanking retrovims proviral sequences. This will allow us to probe BAC and YAC arrays with probes derived from tumors to determine whether the tumor displays the movement of a retrovims between chromosomal positions. This array-based method will also lend itself to more facile examination of the products that result from RDA and SSH subtraction methods. Thus, we are now armed with an arsenal of tools for tracking retroviral retroposition events associated with human malignancy.