Department of Pathology, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, Shanghai, China.
Mod Pathol. 2013 Feb;26(2):155-65. doi: 10.1038/modpathol.2012.160. Epub 2012 Sep 21.
The conventional view of gene regulation in biology has centered around protein-coding genes via the central dogma of DNA-->mRNA-->protein. The discovery of thousands of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) has certainly changed our view of the complexity of mammalian genomes and transcriptomes, as well as many other aspects of biology including transcriptional and posttranscriptional regulation of gene expression. Accumulating reports of misregulated lncRNA expression across numerous cancer types suggest that aberrant lncRNA expression may be a major contributor to tumorigenesis. Here, we summarize recent data about the biological characteristics of lncRNAs in cancer pathways. These include examples with a wide range of molecular mechanisms involved in gene regulation. We also consider the medical implications, and discuss how lncRNAs can be used for cancer diagnosis and prognosis, and serve as potential therapeutic targets. As more examples of regulation by lncRNA are uncovered, one might predict that the large transcripts will eventually rival small RNAs and proteins in their versatility as regulators of genetic information.
生物学中传统的基因调控观点主要集中在通过 DNA-->mRNA-->蛋白质的中心法则对蛋白质编码基因进行调控。数千种长非编码 RNA（lncRNA）的发现，确实改变了我们对哺乳动物基因组和转录组复杂性的认识，以及包括转录和转录后基因表达调控在内的许多其他生物学方面。越来越多的报告表明，在许多癌症类型中存在 lncRNA 表达失调，这表明异常的 lncRNA 表达可能是肿瘤发生的主要因素。在这里，我们总结了 lncRNA 在癌症途径中生物学特性的最新数据。这些包括涉及基因调控的广泛分子机制的例子。我们还考虑了其医学意义，并讨论了 lncRNA 如何用于癌症诊断和预后，并作为潜在的治疗靶点。随着更多由 lncRNA 调控的例子被揭示，人们可能会预测到这些大型转录物最终将与小分子 RNA 和蛋白质一样，成为遗传信息调控的多功能因子。
