Long noncoding RNA as novel cancer diagnostic and effective therapeutic targets

Abstract

Recently large-scale genomic analyses have reported that the vast majority of somatic copy number alterations found in human cancers map to transcribed regions lacking protein-coding potential. This is not surprising considering that, although most of the human genome is transcribed into various classes of RNAs, less than 2% of them encodes for proteins. Among them, long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) constitute one of the most abundant classes of RNA, defined as RNA longer than 200 nucleotides not coding for proteins. Interestingly, lncRNAs are often expressed in a tissue- and cancer-specific manner, and their expression can be easily manipulated in vivo using antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) making them attractive cancer-selective markers and therapeutic targets. Emerging biochemical evidence has revealed an incredible functional diversity for lncRNAs as they can recruit chromatin-modifying proteins, organize nuclear architecture, regulate mRNA stability and translation by competing with microRNA and RNA-binding proteins, and even alter protein localization and function. Accordingly, lncRNAs are emerging as important regulators of cancer initiation and progression. Here we discuss the role of lncRNAs in cancer and their potential as a new promising avenue for the advancement of cancer cell-specific therapeutic design.