Tumorigenesis and Functional Analysis of Human Endogenous Retrovirus in Colorectal Cancer

Human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs) have been proved to be associated with some cancer diseases. HERV may have an important role in onset or progression of human cancers. Although the impact of HERVs on the human genome has been studied and many of evidences indicated that HERVs are associated with human cancers, HERVs’ prevalence and underlying mechanism still remain unclear. We have already identified 12 HERVs candidates, 16 HERV associated flanking genes and 428 other human known genes, which have significantly differential transcriptions level in colorectal cancer samples, from our previous RNA-Sequencing study. We shall perform systematically study on targeted HERV transcripts with their driven or associated genes. Pathway and functional analysis will be performed in elucidating the important roles of HERV in tumorigenesis of colorectal cancer. Some specific HERVs may serve as useful prognostic biomarkers and also serve as possible or alternative therapeutic targets in colorectal cancer. This study will provide meaningful result into the role of HERVs in human carcinogenesis in colorectal cancer.

Project ID:PC10207-0073
External Project ID:NSC102-2320-B182-023