Mutual interaction of lncRNAs and epigenetics: focusing on cancer

Abstract

Long noncoding RNAs are characterized as noncoding transcripts longer than 200 nucleotides in response to a variety of functions within the cells. They are involved in almost all cellular mechanisms so as epigenetics. Given that epigenetics is an important phenomenon, which participates in the biology of complex diseases, many valuable studies have been performed to demonstrate the control status of lncRNAs and epigenetics. DNA methylation and histone modifications as epigenetic mechanisms can regulate the expression of lncRNAs by affecting their coding genes. Reciprocally, the three-dimensional structure of lncRNAs could mechanistically control the activity of epigenetic-related enzymes. Dysregulation in the mutual interaction between epigenetics and lncRNAs is one of the hallmarks of cancer. These mechanisms are either directly or indirectly involved in various cancer properties such as proliferation, apoptosis, invasion, and metastasis. For instance, lncRNA HOTAIR plays a role in regulating the expression of many genes by interacting with epigenetic factors such as DNA methyltransferases and EZH2, and thus plays a role in the initiation and progression of various cancers. Conversely, the expression of this lncRNA is also controlled by epigenetic factors. Therefore, focusing on this reciprocated interaction can apply to cancer management and the identification of prognostic, diagnostic, and druggable targets. In the current review, we discuss the reciprocal relationship between lncRNAs and epigenetic mechanisms to promote or prevent cancer progression and find new potent biomarkers and targets for cancer diagnosis and therapy.

Methylation-Regulated Long Non-Coding RNA Expression in Ulcerative Colitis

“…The crosstalk between DNA methylation and lncRNAs has been confirmed by findings regarding lncRNA promoter methylation and dysregulation in response to methylation inhibitor treatments [ 21 ]. Changes in the promoter methylation state cause the significant dysregulation of many lncRNAs, including Pvt1, NEAT1, and LINC00261, and play a role in disease pathogenesis [ 21 , 24 ]. This study focuses on lncRNAs that may be regulated by differentially methylated regions (DMRs).…”