Long non-coding RNA in health and disease

Long non-coding RNA and chromatin remodeling

“…2,[4][5][6][7]12 The profound lncRNA-chromatin interface provides new opportunities to unlock the potential of this mechanism for diagnostic or therapeutic applications. First, lncRNAs are more tissue-specific in contrast to the chromatin-regulating or epigenetic machinery that tends to operate widely in many tissues.…”

“…Finally, more and more lncRNAs have been discovered as disease-causal or as the hub of new pathways that contribute to disease development. 2,[4][5][6][7]12 Such increasingly fast discoveries of disease-associated lncRNAs are offering us unprecedented opportunities to develop novel therapeutics through the lncRNA mechanisms. The lessons we have learned from targeting microRNAs and delivering RNA-related reagents over the last decade can be modified and transferred to the lncRNA field to realize the therapeutic potential of lncRNAs.…”

“…Transcriptome profiling has identified an increasing number of lncRNAs with tissue-specific expression; however, only dozens of lncRNAs have been characterized in vivo with regard to the mechanisms of action. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7] The majority of lncRNAs remains unknown for their biological functions, roles in diseases, and precise mechanisms. One unique feature of lncRNAs is their biochemical abilities to interact with a wide range of molecules, and through specific RNA functional domains lncRNAs can form a variety of RNA-RNA, RNA-DNA, or RNA-protein complexes, 8 conferring functional diversities to lncRNAs.…”

Long Noncoding RNAs in the Heart

“…1 NcRNAs are broadly classified as long (lncRNA, >200 bp), small (microRNA or miRNA, piRNA), and regulatory (rRNA, tRNA, and snRNA) and can act in cis or trans manner with protein-coding genes. LncRNAs have the unique capability of modifying gene function in diverse ways, 2 for example: (1) they can bind mRNA transcripts to either stabilize or promote translation (eg, enhancer function), or cause steric hindrance to block translation (eg, acting as decoys); (2) they can act as a sponge for miRNAs, lncRNAs activate protein expression by sequestering gene-repressing miRNAs, or (3) lncRNAs can associate with chromatin-remodeling complexes to repress transcription. 3 Some examples of different types of lncRNA in cardiovascular development and disease are listed in Table. 4…”

Preliminary investigation of five novel long non-coding RNAs in hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines

“…NcRNAs are classified into small ncRNAs (less than 200 nts) and long ncRNAs (lncRNAs, more than 200 nts). Small ncRNAs, and particularly microRNAs (miRNAs), are widely considered to be post-transcriptional regulators of mRNAs and their roles in cancer progression are increasingly being studied (3,4). A great number of lncRNAs have been identified thus far, and there is a rapidly growing number of studies of the biological functions of lncRNAs in human cancers, such as hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), gastric cancer, prostate cancer, bladder cancer, renal cancer, colorectal carcinoma, and glioma (5)(6)(7)(8)(9).…”