Emerging Roles for Long Non-Coding RNAs in Cancer and Neurological Disorders

Abstract

The recent discovery of thousands of long non-coding (lnc)RNAs in the human genome has prompted investigation of the potential roles of these molecules in human biology and medicine. Indeed, it is now well documented that many lncRNAs are involved in key biological processes, including dosage compensation, genomic imprinting, chromatin regulation, alternative splicing of pre-mRNA, nuclear organization; and potentially many other biological processes, which are yet to be elucidated. Recently, a number of studies have also reported that lncRNAs are dysregulated in a number of human diseases, including several cancers and neurological disorders. Although many of these studies have fallen short of implicating lncRNAs as causative, they suggest potential roles that warrant further in depth investigations. In this review, we discuss the current state of knowledge regarding the roles of lncRNAs in cancer and neurological disorders, and suggest potential future directions in this rapidly emerging field.

Long interspersed nuclear elements (LINEs) show tissue-specific, mosaic genome and methylation-unrestricted, widespread expression of noncoding RNAs in somatic tissues of the rat

“…22 Role of lncRNAs has also been highlighted in cancer and neurological diseases. 23,24 Role of lncRNAs has also been explained in epigenetic regulation of chromatin and gene expression during embryological and neural differentiation, where lncRNA can function to make sequence specific recognition with promoter/enhancer of a given gene and simultaneously act as an adaptor to bind and deliver chromatin modifying protein(s) to the nucleosome(s). 25 (Fig.…”

Long non-coding RNA HOTAIR is a marker for hepatocellular carcinoma progression and tumor recurrence

“…Although a number of tumor suppressor genes and oncogenes, including KRAS, PTEN and TP53, have been identified to be involved in HCC progression (6,7,32), the molecular mechanism of HCC is not completely understood. In recent years, the focus of tumor research has expanded to investigate the potential tumor suppressive or oncogenic functions of lncRNAs (33,34).…”

Unbiased analysis of potential targets of breast cancer susceptibility loci by Capture Hi-C

“…lncRNAs have been shown to be involved in a wide range of biological processes including dosage compensation, genomic imprinting, chromatin regulation, alternative splicing of pre-mRNA, and nuclear organization (Niland et al 2012). Dysregulation of lncRNAs has been reported in several cancers and two of the most well-characterized lncRNAs, HOTAIR and ANRIL, have both been shown to repress the expression of tumor-suppressor genes by altering chromatin structure either locally or over long distances (Gupta et al 2010;Yap et al 2010).…”