Are transcribed ultraconserved regions involved in cancer?
Yes, it appears that there is widespread T-UCR (Transcribed - UltraConserved Region) involvement in diverse cellular processes that are deregulated in the process of tumourigenesis. Transcribed ultraconserved regions (T-UCRs) are a subset of 481 sequences longer than 200 bp, which are absolutely conserved between orthologous regions of human, rat and mouse genomes, and are actively transcribed. It has recently been proven in cancer systems that differentially expressed T-UCRs could alter the functional characteristics of malignant cells.