Version 1
: Received: 5 May 2022 / Approved: 9 May 2022 / Online: 9 May 2022 (10:50:37 CEST)
How to cite:
Shah, K.; Berkyurek, A.C. Transposable Elements in Human Diseases: Evolutionary and Therapeutic Perspectives. Preprints2022, 2022050117. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202205.0117.v1
Shah, K.; Berkyurek, A.C. Transposable Elements in Human Diseases: Evolutionary and Therapeutic Perspectives. Preprints 2022, 2022050117. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202205.0117.v1
Shah, K.; Berkyurek, A.C. Transposable Elements in Human Diseases: Evolutionary and Therapeutic Perspectives. Preprints2022, 2022050117. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202205.0117.v1
APA Style
Shah, K., & Berkyurek, A.C. (2022). Transposable Elements in Human Diseases: Evolutionary and Therapeutic Perspectives. Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202205.0117.v1
Chicago/Turabian Style
Shah, K. and Ahmet C. Berkyurek. 2022 "Transposable Elements in Human Diseases: Evolutionary and Therapeutic Perspectives" Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202205.0117.v1
Abstract
Transposable elements (TEs) ubiquitously exist in the human genome, and some have the ability to copy and paste themselves to other locations, resulting in new insertions. Organisms have evolved with mechanisms and machineries to repress such activity. TEs are also co-opted for beneficial functions by the host and are thus maintained in the genome. During the lifetime of humans, aberrant TE activity might cause or contribute towards diseases including neurological conditions such as Alzheimers Disease (AD) and cancer. While inflammatory pathways linked to TEs may be a part of the disease pathology, on the other hand altered TE activity involving inflammatory pathways could be recognised by disease suppression mechanisms. For this reason, TEs could be targeted for therapeutic applications aiming to prevent TE activity or reduce initial inflammatory pathways as well as to activate disease suppression mechanisms. In this review, we describe the contributory and potential preventative roles of TEs in neurological conditions and cancer from a molecular and evolutionary perspective. Evolutionary paradigms both at the unicellular and organismal level aid understanding the role of TEs in disease. These observations could pave the way for the development of novel therapeutic approaches targeting TEs.
Biology and Life Sciences, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
