The Research Progress of Long Noncoding RNAs in Autoimmune Diseases

Abstract

Long Noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are transcribed RNAs molecules greater than 200 nucleotides in length. Nowadays, lncRNAs are found to have lots of functions including regulating transcription, post-transcriptional RNA processing, translation, gene rearrangement and chromatin modification. Abnormal expressions and functional abnormity of lncRNAs may play an important role in the development and progress of autoimmune diseases. Thus a systematic and comprehensive profiling of lncRNA will help us to have a deeper understanding of the pathogenesis of the diseases. This article will focus on the latest research progress of lncRNA in autoimmune diseases, which will contribute to clinical applications for diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of autoimmune diseases.