Non-Coding RNAs in Brain Tumors, the Contribution of lncRNAs, circRNAs, and snoRNAs to Cancer Development—Their Diagnostic and Therapeutic Potential

Abstract

Brain tumors are one of the most frightening ailments that afflict human beings worldwide. They are among the most lethal of all adult and pediatric solid tumors. The unique cell-intrinsic and microenvironmental properties of neural tissues are some of the most critical obstacles that researchers face in the diagnosis and treatment of brain tumors. Intensifying the search for potential new molecular markers in order to develop new effective treatments for patients might resolve this issue. Recently, the world of non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) has become a field of intensive research since the discovery of their essential impact on carcinogenesis. Some of the most promising diagnostic and therapeutic regulatory RNAs are long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), circular RNAs (circRNAs), and small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs). Many recent reports indicate the important role of these molecules in brain tumor development, as well as their implications in metastasis. In the following review, we summarize the current state of knowledge about regulatory RNAs, namely lncRNA, circRNAs, and snoRNAs, and their impact on the development of brain tumors in children and adults with particular emphasis on malignant primary brain tumors—gliomas and medulloblastomas (MB). We also provide an overview of how these different ncRNAs may act as biomarkers in these tumors and we present their potential clinical implications.

The Mechanistic Roles of ncRNAs in Promoting and Supporting Chemoresistance of Colorectal Cancer

“…ncRNAs are accountable for chemoresistance (Figure 2) as they play a part in (1) moderating drug resistance related genes, (2) affecting intracellular drug concentration, (3) initiating alternative signalling pathway, (4) promoting EMT, (5) altering drug efficiency by blocking DNA damage response, (6) preventing therapeutic-induced cell death and (7) altering cell cycle [22,166,167]. In general, ncRNAs contribute to chemoresistance in different cancers [168], such as gastric cancers [169,170], pancreatic cancers [171,172], breast cancers [173,174], glioblastomas [175,176], hepatocellular carcinomas [177,178], lung cancers [179,180], leukaemias [181,182] and ovarian cancers [183,184], among others. Despite all these cancers, the following sections will focus on how ncRNAs are involved in chemoresistance arising in CRC.…”

Unveiling a Ghost Proteome in the Glioblastoma Non-Coding RNAs

“…Thus, a large part (75%) of the genes codes for noncoding RNA transcripts (ncRNA), which represent the hidden part of the transcriptome ( DeOcesano-Pereira et al, 2020 ). Very interestingly, 40% of the ncRNAs are expressed in the brain ( Latowska et al, 2020 ). In the case of GBM, ncRNAs have been found to be involved in many processes related to cancer such as stemness/differentiation, proliferation, invasion, survival, DNA damage response, and chromatin dynamics, and they are thus considered as promising new therapeutic and diagnostic markers ( Stackhouse et al, 2020 ).…”

Evolving Landscape of Long Non-coding RNAs in Cerebrospinal Fluid: A Key Role From Diagnosis to Therapy in Brain Tumors

“…In contrast, CSF is more closely associated with brain tissue than serum and can be enriched for tumor specific biomarkers ( Killer, 2013 ; Parnetti et al, 2019 ; Gaetani et al, 2020 ). LncRNAs in the CSF, therefore, are supposed to be potential candidates as sensitive and accurate early diagnostic and prognostic tools for various brain tumors ( Latowska et al, 2020 ).…”