Retroelements (RE) have been proposed as important players in cancerogenesis. Different cancer types are characterized by a different level of tumor-specific RE insertions. In previous studies, small cohorts of hematological malignancies, such as acute myeloid leukemia, multiple myeloma, and chronic lymphocytic leukemia have been characterized by a low level of RE insertional activity. Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in adults and childhood acute leukemias have not been studied in this context. We performed a search for new RE insertions (Alu and L1) in 44 childhood ALL, 14 childhood acute myeloid leukemia, and 14 adult ALL samples using a highly sensitive NGS-based approach. First, we evaluated the method sensitivity revealing the 1% detection threshold for the proportion of cells with specific RE insertion. Following this result, we did not identify new tumor-specific RE insertions in the tested cohort of acute leukemia samples at the established level of sensitivity. Additionally, we analyzed the transcription levels of active L1 copies and found them increased. Thus, the increased transcription of active L1 copies is not sufficient for overt elevation of L1 retrotranspositional activity in leukemia.

• Keywords
• acute leukemia, mobile elements, retroelements, tumor-specific insertions,
• MeSH
• Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma genetics   MeSH
• Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute genetics   MeSH
• Child MeSH
• DNA, Neoplasm genetics   MeSH
• Adult MeSH
• Transcription, Genetic MeSH
• Infant MeSH
• Middle Aged MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Adolescent MeSH
• Young Adult MeSH
• Child, Preschool MeSH
• Gene Expression Regulation, Leukemic MeSH
• Reproducibility of Results MeSH
• Retroelements genetics   MeSH
• Aged MeSH
• Check Tag
• Child MeSH
• Adult MeSH
• Infant MeSH
• Middle Aged MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Adolescent MeSH
• Young Adult MeSH
• Male MeSH
• Child, Preschool MeSH
• Aged MeSH
• Female MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Names of Substances
• DNA, Neoplasm MeSH
• Retroelements MeSH