Autophagy-Modulating Long Non-coding RNAs (LncRNAs) and Their Molecular Events in Cancer

Abstract

Cancer is a global threat of health. Cancer incidence and death is also increasing continuously because of poor understanding of diseases. Although, traditional treatments (surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy) are effective against primary tumors, death rate is increasing because of metastasis development where traditional treatments have failed. Autophagy is a conserved regulatory process of eliminating proteins and damaged organelles. Numerous research revealed that autophagy has dual sword mechanisms including cancer progressions and suppressions. In most of the cases, it maintains homeostasis of cancer microenvironment by providing nutritional supplement under starvation and hypoxic conditions. Over the past few decades, stunning research evidence disclosed significant roles of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) in the regulation of autophagy. LncRNAs are RNA containing more than 200 nucleotides, which have no protein-coding ability but they are found to be expressed in most of the cancers. It is also proved that, autophagy-modulating lncRNAs have significant impacts on pro-survival or pro-death roles in cancers. In this review, we highlighted the recently identified autophagy-modulating lncRNAs, their signaling transduction in cancer and mechanism in cancer. This review will explore newly emerging knowledge of cancer genetics and it may provide novel targets for cancer therapy.

Identification and validation of autophagy-related lncRNA prognostic signature for breast cancer

“…LncRNAs are considered as one of the most sensitive and speci c cancer biomarkers, which participate in the development and progression of various cancers at different levels including epigenetic, transcriptional and posttranscriptional regulation [11][12][13][14]. Moreover, accumulating studies have suggested that lncRNAs promote cancer progression and predict worse prognosis in numerous cancers via regulating autophagy [15][16][17]. Therefore, it is valuable to identify key lncRNAs closely related to autophagy and prognosis in breast cancer.…”

Autophagy in cancers including brain tumors: role of MicroRNAs

“…Long non-coding RNAs are another member of the class of non-coding RNAs that could have a crucial role in cancer pathogenesis [134]. It is thought that lncRNAs exert their modulating roles via sponging of miRNAs and proteins.…”

“…The physiological and biological roles of autophagy-regulating lncRNAs in cancer have recently been appreciated. The expression of lncRNAs substantially affects the level of autophagy at various steps of carcinogenesis, and especially in advanced metastatic cancer [134]. It has been proposed that impaired expression of MALAT1 (metastasis associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1) regulates autophagy in different cancers such as RTB, HCC, glioma, and GC via modulation of miRNAs, miR-101, miR-124, miR-23b-3p, as well as miR-216b [135][136][137][138].…”

LincHOXA10 Facilitates Colorectal Cancer Development By Regulating HOXA10-Mediated Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transtion

“…Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are de ned as RNA transcripts longer than 200 nucleotides without or with limited protein-coding potential [16][17][18]. They can regulate gene activity through regulation of DNA and protein modi cation, protein supplement, and RNA interaction [19][20][21]. More lncRNAs are identi ed and play essential roles in biological processes, including cell growth, cell differentiation, and cell cycle control [22,23].…”