N6-methyladenosine (m 6 A) is the most common RNA modification and has an important role in normal development and tumorigenesis. The abnormal expression of m 6 A regulators can lead to an imbalance in m 6 A levels in cancer cells, leading to the dysregulated expression of oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes that may contribute to cancer development, patient response to chemoradiotherapy, and clinical prognosis. Recent studies demonstrate that non-coding RNAs are involved in epigenetic modification of both DNA and RNA in tumor cells, and may also affect the development and progression of cancer by targeting m 6 A regulators. In this review, we describe the functional crosstalk between m 6 A and non-coding RNAs, particularly microRNA, long non-coding RNA, and circular RNA, and illustrate their roles in tumor regulation. Finally, we discuss the significance of non-coding RNA and m 6 A modification in the diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of cancer patients, as well as potential future research directions.

The role of long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) HOX transcript antisense RNA (HOTAIR) and its functional single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) is still largely unclear. Therefore, we investigated the involvement of lncRNA HOTAIR and its three haplotype-tagging SNPs (htSNPs) in PTC. There was higher expression of HOTAIR in PTC tissues compared to normal tissues. A series of gain-loss assays demonstrated that HOTAIR acts as a PTC oncogene via promoting tumorigenic properties of PTC cells. Additionally, the functional HOTAIR rs920778 genetic variant was a PTC susceptibility SNP. Subjects with the HOTAIR rs920778 TT genotype had an odds ratio (OR) of 1.88, 1.25 and 1.61 (P = 6.0 × 10−6, P = 0.028 and P = 3.2 × 10−5) for developing PTC in Shandong, Jiangsu and Jilin case-control sets compared with subjects with the CC genotype. This statistically significant associations were only found between the rs920778 genetic polymorphism and PTC risk in females but not in males. The allele-specific regulation on HOTAIR expression by the rs920778 SNP was confirmed both in vitro and in vivo. Our results demonstrate that functional SNPs influencing lncRNA regulation may explain a part of PTC genetic basis.

The 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna for the development of the Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats/CRISPR-associated nuclease9 (CRISPR/Cas9) gene editing technology that provided new tools for precise gene editing. It is possible to target any genomic locus virtually using only a complex nuclease protein with short RNA as a site-specific endonuclease. Since cancer is caused by genomic changes in tumor cells, CRISPR/Cas9 can be used in the field of cancer research to edit genomes for exploration of the mechanisms of tumorigenesis and development. In recent years, the CRISPR/Cas9 system has been increasingly used in cancer research and treatment and remarkable results have been achieved. In this review, we introduced the mechanism and development of the CRISPR/Cas9-based gene editing system. Furthermore, we summarized current applications of this technique for basic research, diagnosis and therapy of cancer. Moreover, the potential applications of CRISPR/Cas9 in new emerging hotspots of oncology research were discussed, and the challenges and future directions were highlighted.

Background: Laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC) is a common malignant tumor of the head and neck. LSCC patients have seriously impaired vocal, respiratory, and swallowing functions with poor prognosis. Circular RNA (circRNA) has attracted great attention in cancer research. However, the expression patterns and roles of circRNAs in LSCC remain largely unknown. Methods: RNA sequencing was performed on 57 pairs of LSCC and matched adjacent normal mucosa tissues to construct circRNA, miRNA, and mRNA expression profiles. RT-PCR, qPCR, Sanger sequencing, and FISH were undertaken to study the expression, localization, and clinical significance of circCORO1C in LSCC tissues and cells. The functions of circCORO1C in LSCC were investigated by RNAi-mediated knockdown, proliferation analysis, EdU staining, colony formation assay, Transwell assay, and apoptosis analysis. The regulatory mechanisms among circCORO1C, let-7c-5p, and PBX3 were investigated by luciferase assay, RNA immunoprecipitation, western blotting, and immunohistochemistry.

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