Prospects of Noncoding RNAs in Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Huaixiang Zhou,Qiuran Xu,Xiaoge Hu,Song Ye,Xiaowu Xu,Chao Ni,Jiahong Jiang,Dongsheng Huang,Liu Yang,Yeting Hong

doi:10.1155/2018/6579436

Abstract

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a global health problem and one of the most common malignant tumors. Recent studies have shown that noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs) contribute to the pathogenesis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). These RNAs may be involved in a variety of pathological processes such as cell proliferation, apoptosis, angiogenesis, invasion, and metastasis. In addition, abnormal expression of ncRNAs in HCC may provide potential prognostic or diagnostic biomarkers. This review provides an overview of the role and potential applications of ncRNAs, miRNAs, lncRNAs, circRNAs, and snoRNAs in liver cancer.

Highlights

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common malignant tumors and a global health problem [1]
HCC is characterized by the involvement of multiple gene networks and the imbalance of signaling pathways [2, 3]
These genetic dysregulations involve proteincoding genes and noncoding RNA genes [4]. The former has been the focus of research, the latter has only recently been recognized as playing a role in the pathological processes implicated in HCC [5]

Summary

Introduction

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common malignant tumors and a global health problem [1]. With the development of high-throughput sequencing technology, many ncRNAs have been characterized as functional molecules that play an important role in various biological processes and pathological states [13,14,15]. MicroRNA (miRNA) is a type of 20-24nt long biologically functional, small molecule that is highly conserved and provides negative regulation [25] Since their discovery in 1993 in Caenorhabditis elegans, their important roles continue to be described [26, 27]. Their main functions are on the transcription of regulatory proteins encoded by gene expression [28,29,30]. In HCV-infected sera from HCC patients, the specific low expression of mir-30c-5p, mir223-3p, mir-302c-5p, and mir-17-5p, as well as the specific high expression of miR-221, suggest potential biomarkers indicating the recurrence of HCC [91, 92]

Roles of lncRNAs in HCC

Findings

Conclusion