No abstract

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNA) have been emerged as a novel class of molecular regulators in cancer. They are dysregulated in many types of cancer; however, there is not enough knowledge available on their expression and functional profiles. Lung cancer is the leading cause of the cancer deaths worldwide. Generally, lncRNAs may be associated with lung tumor pathogenesis and they may act as biomarkers for the cancer prognosis and diagnosis. Compared to other invasive prognostic and diagnostic methods, detection of lncRNAs might be a user-friendly and noninvasive method. In this review article, we selected 27 tumor-associated lncRNAs by literature reviewing to further discussing in detail for using as diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers in lung cancer. Also, in an in silico target analysis, the "Experimentally supported functional regulation" approach of the LncTarD web tool was used to identifying the target genes and regulatory mechanisms of the selected lncRNAs. The reports on diagnostic and prognostic potential of all selected lncRNAs were discussed. However, the target genes and regulatory mechanisms of the 22 lncRNAs were identified by in silico analysis and we found the pathways that are controlled by each target group of lncRNAs. They use epigenetic mechanisms, ceRNA mechanisms, protein interaction and sponge mechanism. Also, 10, 23, 5, and 28 target genes for each of these mechanisms were identified, respectively. Finally, each group of target genes controls 50, 12, 7, and 2 molecular pathways, respectively. In conclusion, LncRNAs could be used as

The genome condensation in the sperm head is resulted with replacing of histones by protamines during spermatogenesis. It is reported that defects in the protamine 1 (PRM1) and/or 2 (PRM2) genes cause male infertility. Located on chromosome 16 (16p13.2) these genes contain numerous unstudied single nucleotide polymorphisms. This study aimed to investigate the association of c.-190 C>A and g.298 G>C transversions that respectively occur in PRM1 and PRM2 genes with idiopathic oligozoospermia. In a case-control study, we collected blood samples from 130 idiopathic oligozoospermia and 130 fertile men. Detection of c.-190 C>A and g.298 G>C polymorphisms performed by direct sequencing and PCR-RFLP methods respectively. An in silico analysis was performed by ASSP, NetGene 2, and PNImodeler online web servers. Our data revealed that g.298 G>C transversion in PRM2 was not associated with oligozoospermia (P > 0.05). Whereas, -190CA and -190AA genotypes in PRM1 gene were associated significantly with increased risk of oligozoospermia (P = 0.0017 and 0.0103, respectively). Also carriers of A allele (CA+AA) for PRM1 c.-190 C>A were at a high risk for oligozoospermia (OR 3.2440, 95 % CI 1.8060-5.8270, P = 0.0001). Further, in silico analysis revealed that c.-190 C>A transversion may alter transcription factor interactions with the promoter region of PRM1. The results revealed that the c.-190 C>A transversion may involve in the susceptibility for oligozoospermia and could be represented as a noninvasive molecular marker for genetic diagnosis of idiopathic oligozoospermia.