ArticleNature immunology2021
Transposon-triggered innate immune response confers cancer resistance to the blind mole rat.
Article in Nature immunology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 54 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
54 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 95 citations in OpenAlex.
- Disrupting Mechanisms that Regulate Genomic Repeat Elements to Combat Cancer and Drug Resistance.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2022Pooled it
- cGAS-deficient mice display premature aging associated with derepression of LINE1 elements and inflammation.Nature aging · 2026Article
- IFN𝛾 and IFN𝛾 mimetics prevent IFN-I-mediated TB susceptibility by regulating iron metabolism and lipid peroxidation.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Molecular mechanisms regulating cGAS/STING activation in health and disease.The Journal of clinical investigation · 2026Review
- Transposable element regulation in mammalian germ cells and other contexts: multilayered repression, fertility, and regulated activation.Epigenomics · 2026Review
- Beyond Mice and Men: Alternative Vertebrate and Invertebrate Models in Cancer Biology.Annual review of cancer biology · 2026Article
- Control of retrotransposon-driven activation of the interferon response by the double-stranded RNA binding protein DGCR8.Nucleic acids research · 2026Article
- MORC2 promotes acute myeloid leukemia by silencing LINE-1 retrotransposon.Functional & integrative genomics · 2026Article
- Transposable elements as a possible missing link between genetic predisposition and environmental triggers of autoimmune disorders: insights from type 1 diabetes, systemic lupus erythematosus and rheumatoid arthritis.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
- Endogenous retroviruses in aging and cancer: from genomic defense to oncogenic activation.Mobile DNA · 2025Review
- Revisiting Clonal Evolution Through the Light of Retrotransposons.BioEssays : news and reviews in molecular, cellular and developmental biology · 2025Review
- Pan-cancer analysis reveals context-dependent roles of LINE-1 ORF1p in immune regulation and copy number alterations.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Unlocking longevity through the comparative biology of aging.Nature aging · 2025Review
- Advancing cancer research via comparative oncology.Nature reviews. Cancer · 2025Review
- Bioenergetic Model of Retrotransposon Activity in Cancer Cells.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Review
- A noncanonical cGAS-STING pathway drives cellular and organismal aging.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- An endogenous retroviral element co-opts an upstream regulatory sequence to achieve somatic expression and mobility.Nucleic acids research · 2025Article
- Exploring the Relationship of Transposable Elements and Ageing: Causes and Consequences.Genome biology and evolution · 2025Review
- Limited cell-autonomous anticancer mechanisms in long-lived bats.Nature communications · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
18 authors at 6 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Blind mole rats (BMRs) are small rodents, characterized by an exceptionally long lifespan (>21 years) and resistance to both spontaneous and induced tumorigenesis. Here we report that cancer resistance in the BMR is mediated by retrotransposable elements (RTEs). Cells and tissues of BMRs express very low levels of DNA methyltransferase 1. Following cell hyperplasia, the BMR genome DNA loses methylation, resulting in the activation of RTEs. Upregulated RTEs form cytoplasmic RNA-DNA hybrids, which activate the cGAS-STING pathway to induce cell death. Although this mechanism is enhanced in the BMR, we show that it functions in mice and humans. We propose that RTEs were co-opted to serve as tumor suppressors that monitor cell proliferation and are activated in premalignant cells to trigger cell death via activation of the innate immune response. Activation of RTEs is a double-edged sword, serving as a tumor suppressor but contributing to aging in late life via the induction of sterile inflammation.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.