Minotti Linda, Agnoletto Chiara, Baldassari Federica, Corrà Fabio, Volinia Stefano
LTTA, Department of Morphology, Surgery and Experimental Medicine, University of Ferrara, Via Fossato di Mortara 70, 44123 Ferrara, Italy.
High Throughput. 2018 Nov 16;7(4):34. doi: 10.3390/ht7040034.
In the last decade, it has been demonstrated that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are involved in cancer development. The great majority of studies on lncRNAs report alterations, principally on their expression profiles, in several tumor types with respect to the normal tissues of origin. Conversely, since lncRNAs constitute a relatively novel class of RNAs compared to protein-coding transcripts (mRNAs), the landscape of their mutations and variations has not yet been extensively studied. However, in recent years an ever-increasing number of articles have described mutations of lncRNAs. Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that occur within the lncRNA transcripts can affect the structure and function of these RNA molecules, while the presence of a SNP in the promoter region of a lncRNA could alter its expression level. Also, somatic mutations that occur within lncRNAs have been shown to exert important effects in cancer and preliminary data are promising. Overall, the evidence suggests that SNPs and somatic mutation on lncRNAs may play a role in the pathogenesis of cancer, and indicates strong potential for further development of lncRNAs as biomarkers.
在过去十年中，已有研究表明长链非编码RNA（lncRNA）参与癌症发展。关于lncRNA的绝大多数研究报告了多种肿瘤类型相对于其起源的正常组织而言的改变，主要是在其表达谱方面。相反，由于与蛋白质编码转录本（mRNA）相比，lncRNA是一类相对新颖的RNA，其突变和变异情况尚未得到广泛研究。然而，近年来越来越多的文章描述了lncRNA的突变。lncRNA转录本内发生的单核苷酸多态性（SNP）可影响这些RNA分子的结构和功能，而lncRNA启动子区域中SNP的存在可能会改变其表达水平。此外，lncRNA内发生的体细胞突变已被证明在癌症中发挥重要作用，初步数据很有前景。总体而言，证据表明lncRNA上的SNP和体细胞突变可能在癌症发病机制中起作用，并表明lncRNA作为生物标志物具有很大的进一步发展潜力。
