Long Noncoding RNAs and Human Liver Disease

Abstract

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are pervasively transcribed in the genome, exhibit a diverse range of biological functions, and exert effects through a variety of mechanisms. The sheer number of lncRNAs in the human genome has raised important questions about their potential biological significance and roles in human health and disease. Technological and computational advances have enabled functional annotation of a large number of lncRNAs. Though the number of publications related to lncRNAs has escalated in recent years, relatively few have focused on those involved in hepatic physiology and pathology. We provide an overview of evolving lncRNA classification systems and characteristics and highlight important advances in our understanding of the contribution of lncRNAs to liver disease, with a focus on nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, hepatocellular carcinoma, and cholestatic liver disease.

Keywords: cholestasis; hepatocellular carcinoma; long noncoding RNA; nonalcoholic fatty liver disease; nonalcoholic steatohepatitis; pathogenesis.

Figure 1

Comparison of the number of human-mouse orthologs for lncRNAs based on GENCODE-annotated human and mouse lncRNAs (30) and mRNAs based on mouse protein-coding genes in homology classes with human genes; 83.9% of mRNAs are orthologous with human, while only 25% of lncRNAs have mouse orthologs. Some data for this figure were retrieved from the Mouse Genome Database, Mouse Genome Informatics, The Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor, Maine (http://www.informatics.jax.org/homology.shtml, accessed February 20, 2021).