HERV-K (HML-2) insertion polymorphisms in the 8q24.13 region and their potential etiological associations with acute myeloid leukemia

Human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs) are LTR retrotransposons that are present in the human genome. Among them, members of the HERV-K (HML-2) group are suspected to play a role in the development of different types of cancer, including lung, ovarian, and prostate cancer, as well as leukemia. Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is an important disease that causes 1% of cancer deaths in the United States and has a survival rate of 28.7%. Here, we describe a method for assessing the statistical association between HERV-K (HML-2) transposable element insertion polymorphisms (or TIPs) and AML, using whole-genome sequencing and read mapping using TIP_finder software. Our results suggest that 101 polymorphisms involving HERV-K (HML-2) elements were correlated with AML, with a percentage between 44.4 to 56.6%, most of which (70) were located in the region from 8q24.13 to 8q24.21. Moreover, it was found that the TRIB1, LRATD2, POU5F1B, MYC, PCAT1, PVT1, and CCDC26 genes could be displaced or fragmented by TIPs. Furthermore, a general method was devised to facilitate analysis of the correlation between transposable element insertions and specific diseases. Finally, although the relationship between HERV-K (HML-2) TIPs and AML remains unclear, the data reported in this study indicate a statistical correlation, as supported by the χ2 test with p-values < 0.05.