PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Yun Jiang
AU  - Wei Zong
AU  - Shaoqing Ju
AU  - Rongrong Jing
AU  - Ming Cui
TI  - Promising member of the short interspersed nuclear elements (<em>Alu</em> elements): mechanisms and clinical applications in human cancers
AID  - 10.1136/jmedgenet-2018-105761
DP  - 2019 Oct 01
TA  - Journal of Medical Genetics
PG  - 639--645
VI  - 56
IP  - 10
4099  - http://jmg.bmj.com/content/56/10/639.short
4100  - http://jmg.bmj.com/content/56/10/639.full
SO  - J Med Genet2019 Oct 01; 56
AB  - Alu elements are one of most ubiquitous repetitive sequences in human genome, which were considered as the junk DNA in the past. Alu elements have been found to be associated with human diseases including cancers via events such as amplification, insertion, recombination or RNA editing, which provide a new perspective of oncogenesis at both DNA and RNA levels. Due to the prevalent distribution, Alu elements are widely used as target molecule of liquid biopsy. Alu-based cell-free DNA shows feasible application value in tumour diagnosis, postoperative monitoring and adjuvant therapy. In this review, the special tumourigenesis mechanism of Alu elements in human cancers is discussed, and the application of Alu elements in various tumour liquid biopsy is summarised.