Non-coding RNAs and cancer: new paradigms in oncology

Abstract

Over the last decade, a growing number of non-coding transcripts have been found to have roles in gene regulation and RNA processing. The most well known small non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) are the microRNAs (miRNAs), but the network of long and short non-coding transcripts is complex and is likely to contain as yet unidentified classes of molecules that form transcriptional regulatory networks. miRNAs and some other ncRNAs have been found to be involved in human tumorigenesis, revealing a new layer in the molecular architecture of cancer. Gene expression studies have shown that hundreds of miRNAs are deregulated in cancer cells, and functional studies have clarified that miRNAs are involved in all the molecular and biologic processes that drive tumorigenesis. Here, we summarize the recent advances in understanding miRNAs' and other ncRNAs' involvement in cancer and illustrate how this knowledge may be useful in medical practice. New diagnostic classifiers based on miRNAs will soon be available for medical practitioners, and even more importantly, miRNAs may become novel anti-cancer therapies.