Ouardia Ait-Mohamed

Title : Comprehensive meta-analyses of cancer data: insights from junk DNA

Abstract :
Current models that underlie cancer development and therapeutic response are predominantly based upon characterizations of the 1–2% of protein-coding DNA sequences in the human genome (Ishak et De Carvalho, 2020).

Transposons or transposable elements (TEs) are repetitive mobile genomic sequences having the ability to integrate into new sites in the genome. In the human genome, they comprise 45% of the total genome (Riordan et Dupuy, 2013, Pradhan et Ramakrishna, 2022).

Transposons play an active role in gene expression regulation. They have both positive and negative consequences on the genome. They maintain genome diversity leading to adaptive evolution (Schrader and Schmitz, 2019). However, despite their imperative role, they are generally silenced because of their deleterious effects on the genome (Morales et al., 2015). A causal relationship between transposon dysregulation and carcinogen­esis and its application in cancer prognosis, diagnosis and treatment is often overlooked. Indeed, our current understanding on transposons is just the tip of the iceberg (Pradhan et Ramakrishna, 2022).

For a better understanding of the role of these mobile elements in human cancer, my project will start by focusing on meta-analyses including various sequencing data provided from different cancer types to draw a comprehensive view of the expression and regulation of these TEs. Prostate cancer will be the starting model in such a project.