The Non-Coding RNA Journal Club: Highlights on Recent Papers—9

Abstract

We are delighted to share with you our ninth Journal Club and highlight some of the most interesting papers published recently [...]

Functional roles of conserved lncRNAs and circRNAs in eukaryotes

“…If a circRNA has a negative correlation with a miRNA and a positive correlation with its target mRNA, this circRNA is always considered to act as a miRNA sponge. Nevertheless, it has recently been demonstrated that this correlation may result from the co-expression or mutual exclusion of subpopulations [ 85 , 86 ]. Bulk tissues are typically composed of a heterogeneous mixture of cell types.…”

“…For example, colon and prostate tumor tissues often contain uneven proportions of muscle cells, which are known to be rich in circRNAs [ 99 ]. Consequently, the discrepancy in muscle cell content between different samples may give rise to an artifactual bias in circRNA expression [ 85 , 86 , 98 , 99 ]. Similarly, lncRNA expression is also cell-specific, which means that the analysis of lncRNA/circRNA expression and function using large tissue samples, such as tumor and non-tumor adjacent specimens, may result in erroneous conclusions.…”

“…In addition to regulating neuronal activity, CDR1as has been proposed to have oncogenic properties because it is highly expressed in tumors and its target, miR-7 , is known to be a tumor suppressor [ [82] , [83] , [84] ]. However, Kristensen and colleagues pointed out that, in colon cancer, CDR1as is not expressed in cancer cells but instead is only expressed in stromal cells, while miR-7 is only expressed in cancer cells [ 85 , 86 ].

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The Non-Coding RNA Journal Club: Highlights on Recent Papers—10

“…The indirect evidence for the “sponge” function is strong and is consistent with criteria presented in the non-coding RNA Journal Club—9, abstract, “5. No Co-expression, No Sponging”, highlighted by Laura Poliseno [ 5 ].…”