LncRNAs: the bridge linking RNA and colorectal cancer

// Yanfei Yang 1, * , Linjie Zhao 1, * , Lingzi Lei 1, * , Wayne Bond Lau 2, * , Bonnie Lau 3, * , Qilian Yang 1 , Xiaobing Le 1 , Huiliang Yang 4 , Chenlu Wang 5 , Zhongyue Luo 5 , Yu Xuan 1 , Yi Chen 6 , Xiangbing Deng 6 , Lian Xu 7 , Min Feng 7 , Tao Yi 1 , Xia Zhao 1 ,Yuquan Wei 1 , Shengtao Zhou 1 1 Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Key Laboratory of Birth Defects and Related Diseases of Women and Children of Ministry of Education, West China Second Hospital and State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy/Collaborative Innovation Center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, P. R. China 2 Department of Emergency Medicine, Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, U.S.A 3 Department of Emergency Medicine, Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara Medical Center, Affiliate of Stanford University, U.S.A 4 Department of Orthopedics, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, P. R. China 5 College of Life Sciences, Sichuan University, Chengdu, P. R. China 6 Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, P.R. China 7 Department of Pathology, West China Second Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, P. R. China * These authors have contributed equally to this work Correspondence to: Shengtao Zhou, email: taotaovip2005@163.com Keywords: lncRNAs, colorectal cancer, proliferation, angiogenesis, metastasis Received: May 20, 2016 Accepted: November 12, 2016 Published: November 24, 2016 ABSTRACT Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are transcribed by genomic regions (exceeding 200 nucleotides in length) that do not encode proteins. While the exquisite regulation of lncRNA transcription can provide signals of malignant transformation, lncRNAs control pleiotropic cancer phenotypes through interactions with other cellular molecules including DNA, protein, and RNA. Recent studies have demonstrated that dysregulation of lncRNAs is influential in proliferation, angiogenesis, metastasis, invasion, apoptosis, stemness, and genome instability in colorectal cancer (CRC), with consequent clinical implications. In this review, we explicate the roles of different lncRNAs in CRC, and the potential implications for their clinical application.