Current understanding of functional peptides encoded by lncRNA in cancer

Abstract

Dysregulated gene expression and imbalance of transcriptional regulation are typical features of cancer. RNA always plays a key role in these processes. Human transcripts contain many RNAs without long open reading frames (ORF, > 100 aa) and that are more than 200 bp in length. They are usually regarded as long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) which play an important role in cancer regulation, including chromatin remodeling, transcriptional regulation, translational regulation and as miRNA sponges. With the advancement of ribosome profiling and sequencing technologies, increasing research evidence revealed that some ORFs in lncRNA can also encode peptides and participate in the regulation of multiple organ tumors, which undoubtedly opens a new chapter in the field of lncRNA and oncology research. In this review, we discuss the biological function of lncRNA in tumors, the current methods to evaluate their coding potential and the role of functional small peptides encoded by lncRNA in cancers. Investigating the small peptides encoded by lncRNA and understanding the regulatory mechanisms of these functional peptides may contribute to a deeper understanding of cancer and the development of new targeted anticancer therapies.

Keywords: Cancer; Coding potential; Functional peptides; Small ORF; lncRNA.

Fig. 1

LncRNAs influence key processes in cancer. LncRNAs themselves can regulate the progression of cancer by affecting cell proliferation, migration and invasion, autophagy and apoptosis, EMT and cancer stemness. They can also encode peptides to participate in cancer regulation

Fig. 2

Functions of peptides encoded by lncRNA in cancer. LncRNA can encode peptides to promote tumor development in glioma, lung cancer, HCC, OSCC, ESCC, breast cancer and melanoma or inhibit tumor development in HNSCC, TNBC and CRC