Genomic landscape of cancer metastasis

Abstract

Cancer metastasis is the most critical determinant of overall survival in cancer patients. With the significant advancement in next-generation sequencing technologies, our understanding of mechanism of cancer metastasis has been considerably changed especially after the discovery of noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs). The ncRNAs play critical roles in a variety of cellular processes, including development, differentiation, and tumorigenesis. Remarkably, discovery of a class of ncRNAs named as miRNAs led to a paradigm change in our understanding of gene regulation and function. Moreover, long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs), another type of ncRNAs, have recently depicted their role as drivers of tumorigenesis by regulating tumor suppressive and oncogenic pathways. In this chapter, we describe metastasis and introduce ncRNAs with major focus on lncRNAs and outline a detailed description of few cancer metastasis-associated lncRNAs (MALAT-1, HOTAIR, BC200, and SRA RNA). Overall, a complete understanding of the genomic landscape of metastasis will generate new opportunities in early detection and therapeutic intervention.