Current research on head and neck cancer-associated long noncoding RNAs.

Wei Song,Yimin Sun,Xiaoqin Bi,Jie Lin

doi:10.18632/oncotarget.22608

Abstract

Head and neck cancers (HNC) are one of the ten leading cancers worldwide, including a range of malignant tumors arising from the upper neck. Due to the complex mechanisms of HNC and lack of effective biomarkers, the 5-year survival rate of HNC has been low and the mortality rate has been high in recent decades. Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs), noncoding RNAs longer than 200 bps, are a focus of current cancer research, closely related to tumor biology. LncRNAs have been revealed to be aberrantly expressed in various types of HNC, and the dysregulated lncRNAs participate in HNC progression and induce malignant behavior by modulating gene expression at diverse levels. This review will focus on the functions and molecular mechanisms of dysregulated lncRNAs in HNC tumorigenesis and progression, as well as their diagnostic, therapeutic or prognostic implications in HNC.

Highlights

Head and neck cancers (HNC) are one of the ten leading cancers worldwide originating from the upper neck, including the oral cavity, tongue, hypopharynx, nasopharynx, larynx, and thyroid [1,2,3,4]
papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) and follicular thyroid cancer (FTC) form the type known as differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC), while medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) and anaplastic thyroid cancer (ATC) are collectively classified as poorly differentiated thyroid cancer (PDTC) [26, 27]
long non-coding RNAs (LncRNAs) modulates tumor progression by altering the expression of proteins associated with cell proliferation, metastasis, and cell cycle

Summary

Introduction

Head and neck cancers (HNC) are one of the ten leading cancers worldwide originating from the upper neck, including the oral cavity, tongue, hypopharynx, nasopharynx, larynx, and thyroid [1,2,3,4].

Results

Conclusion