Abstract
The discovery that the mammalian genome is largely transcribed and that almost half of the polyadenylated RNAs is composed of noncoding RNAs has attracted the attention of the scientific community. Growing amount of data suggests that long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are a new class of regulators involved not only in physiological processes, such as imprinting and differentiation, but also in cancer progression and neurodegeneration. Apoptosis is a well regulated type of programmed cell death necessary for correct organ development and tissue homeostasis. Indeed, cancer cells often show an inhibition of the apoptotic pathways and it is now emerging that overexpression or downregulation of different lncRNAs in specific types of tumors sensitize cancer cells to apoptotic stimuli. In this review we summarize the latest studies on lncRNAs and apoptosis with major attention to those performed in cancer cells and in healthy cells upon differentiation. We discuss the new perspectives of using lncRNAs as targets of anticancer drugs. Finally, considering that lncRNA levels have been reported to have a correlation with specific cancer types, we argue the possibility of using lncRNAs as tumor biomarkers.
Highlights
Apoptosis is the most common type of programmed cell death by which the body eliminates damaged or exceeding cells without local inflammation
This review focuses on the role of long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) in the apoptosis processes with particular attention to the studies performed on cancer cell lines and tissues
Growing amount of evidences point out that lncRNAs are implicated in the control of apoptosis but their molecular roles in the apoptotic pathways are still largely unknown
Summary
Apoptosis is the most common type of programmed cell death by which the body eliminates damaged or exceeding cells without local inflammation. Genomic studies conducted in the past decades highlighted the presence of a large amount of DNA that is transcribed but not translated, leading to the formation of RNAs that do not code for proteins (noncoding RNAs) [7,8,9] Some of these RNAs are associated with the translational machinery, such as ribosomal and transfer RNAs, but for many others a key role in the regulation of cell fate has been demonstrated [10, 11]. LncRNAs have been described to modulate mRNA stability, for example, by duplexing with the 3 UTRs [17], or to act as miRNA decoy, as it has been demonstrated for lincMD1 that sponges miRNA133 and miRNA-135 during muscle differentiation [18] Through those different mechanisms of action, lncRNAs are involved in the regulation of different aspects of both cell physiology and pathology, such as imprinting [19], maintenance of pluripotency [20], and cancer [21]. This review focuses on the role of lncRNAs in the apoptosis processes with particular attention to the studies performed on cancer cell lines and tissues
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