Drug repurposing and transposable elements: a new promising strategy to fight prostate cancer

New sequencing technologies have enhanced the study of transposable elements (TEs), pivotal in organism evolution and implicated in diseases like cancer. Reactivated TEs, notably LINE-1 retrotransposons, correlate with cancer development, including prostate cancer (PCa). Our group explored the effects of anti-retroviral drugs on TE expression in PCa cells (PC-3). Transcriptome analysis post-treatment revealed significant gene alterations, particularly in inflammation-related pathways, alongside modulation of TE expression. This suggests anti-retrovirals could complement standard PCa therapies, although further validation and functional analysis are warranted.