Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2018 Feb:48:8-15.
doi: 10.1016/j.gde.2017.10.004. Epub 2017 Oct 17.

The role of long noncoding RNAs in cancer: the dark matter matters

Xiaowen Hu  1 , Anil K Sood  2 , Chi V Dang  3 , Lin Zhang  4
Affiliations
Review

The role of long noncoding RNAs in cancer: the dark matter matters

Xiaowen Hu et al. Curr Opin Genet Dev. 2018 Feb.

Abstract

Sequencing technology has facilitated a new era of cancer research, especially in cancer genomics. Using next-generation sequencing, thousands of long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been identified as abnormally altered in the cancer genome or differentially expressed in tumor tissues. These lncRNAs are associated with imbalanced gene regulation and aberrant biological processes that contribute to malignant transformation. The functions and therapeutic potential of cancer-related lncRNAs have attracted considerable interest in the past few years. Although few lncRNAs have been well-characterized, researchers have recently made impressive progress in understanding lncRNAs and their novel functions, such as regulation of gene expression, metabolism and DNA repair. These latest findings reinforce the crucial roles of lncRNAs in cancer initiation and development, as well as their possible clinical applications.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. The major molecular mechanisms of lncRNAs
A. LncRNA as competitive endogenous RNAs. B. LncRNA binds to mRNA, represses translation and degradation of targeted mRNA. C. LncRNA serves as scaffold, e.g. recruits chromatin modification complex. D. LncRNA acts as decoy. E. LncRNA guides protein to specific location. F. LncRNA (e.g. enhancer RNA) tethers transcription factors to promoter region.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Djebali S, Davis CA, Merkel A, Dobin A, Lassmann T, Mortazavi A, Tanzer A, Lagarde J, Lin W, Schlesinger F, et al. Landscape of transcription in human cells. Nature. 2012;489:101–108. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Orom UA, Derrien T, Beringer M, Gumireddy K, Gardini A, Bussotti G, Lai F, Zytnicki M, Notredame C, Huang Q, et al. Long noncoding RNAs with enhancer-like function in human cells. Cell. 2010;143:46–58. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Khalil AM, Guttman M, Huarte M, Garber M, Raj A, Rivea Morales D, Thomas K, Presser A, Bernstein BE, van Oudenaarden A, et al. Many human large intergenic noncoding RNAs associate with chromatin-modifying complexes and affect gene expression. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009;106:11667–11672. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Derrien T, Johnson R, Bussotti G, Tanzer A, Djebali S, Tilgner H, Guernec G, Martin D, Merkel A, Knowles DG, et al. The GENCODE v7 catalog of human long noncoding RNAs: analysis of their gene structure, evolution, and expression. Genome Res. 2012;22:1775–1789. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Wang KC, Chang HY. Molecular mechanisms of long noncoding RNAs. Mol Cell. 2011;43:904–914. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types