ERVW-1 and cancer: To determine whether Mael affects retrotransposon activity in somatic cancer cells, we measured the expression of the retrotransposable elements LINE-1 (ORF1), LINE-2, HERV-K (ORF1), and HERV-W in the cancer cell lines HeLa, MDA-MB-231, Hep3B, and U2OS and normal cells BJ, IMR90, and WI-38 following depletion of Mael.