Mercatelli Neri, Palombo Ramona, Paronetto Maria Paola
Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, 00143 Rome, Italy.
Department of Movement, Human and Health Sciences, Università degli Studi di Roma "Foro Italico", Piazza Lauro de Bosis, 15, 00135 Rome, Italy.
Cancers (Basel). 2020 Jul 24;12(8):2035. doi: 10.3390/cancers12082035.
"Cancer" includes a heterogeneous group of diseases characterized by abnormal growth beyond natural boundaries. Neoplastic transformation of cells is orchestrated by multiple molecular players, including oncogenic transcription factors, epigenetic modifiers, RNA binding proteins, and coding and noncoding transcripts. The use of computational methods for global and quantitative analysis of RNA processing regulation provides new insights into the genomic and epigenomic features of the cancer transcriptome. In particular, noncoding RNAs are emerging as key molecular players in oncogenesis. Among them, the promoter-associated noncoding RNAs (pancRNAs) are noncoding transcripts acting in to regulate their host genes, including tumor suppressors and oncogenes. In this review, we will illustrate the role played by pancRNAs in cancer biology and will discuss the latest findings that connect pancRNAs with cancer risk and progression. The molecular mechanisms involved in the function of pancRNAs may open the path to novel therapeutic opportunities, thus expanding the repertoire of targets to be tested as anticancer agents in the near future.
“癌症”包括一组异质性疾病，其特征是异常生长超出自然边界。细胞的肿瘤转化由多种分子参与者协调，包括致癌转录因子、表观遗传修饰因子、RNA结合蛋白以及编码和非编码转录本。使用计算方法对RNA加工调控进行全局和定量分析，为癌症转录组的基因组和表观基因组特征提供了新的见解。特别是，非编码RNA正在成为肿瘤发生中的关键分子参与者。其中，启动子相关非编码RNA（pancRNA）是在原位发挥作用以调控其宿主基因的非编码转录本，这些宿主基因包括肿瘤抑制基因和癌基因。在本综述中，我们将阐述pancRNA在癌症生物学中所起的作用，并讨论将pancRNA与癌症风险和进展联系起来的最新发现。pancRNA功能所涉及的分子机制可能为新的治疗机会开辟道路，从而在不久的将来扩大作为抗癌药物进行测试的靶点范围。
