Role of non-coding RNA in lineage plasticity of prostate cancer.

The treatment of prostate cancer (PCa) has made great progress in recent years, but treatment resistance always develops and can even lead to fatal disease. Exploring the mechanism of drug resistance is of great significance for improving treatment outcomes and developing biomarkers with predictive value. It is increasingly recognized that mechanism of drug resistance in advanced PCa is related to lineage plasticity and tissue differentiation. Specifically, one of the mechanisms by which castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) cells acquire drug resistance and transform into neuroendocrine prostate cancer (NEPC) cells is lineage plasticity. NEPC is a subtype of PCa that is highly aggressive and lethal, with a median survival of only 7 months. With the development of high-throughput RNA sequencing technology, more and more non-coding RNAs have been identified, which play important roles in different diseases through different mechanisms. Several ncRNAs have shown great potential in PCa lineage plasticity and as biomarkers. In the review, the role of ncRNA in PCa lineage plasticity and its use as biomarkers were reviewed.