Functional roles of non-coding RNAs in glioma and their clnical implications

Abstract

Glioma is the commonest form of primary brain tumors with poor clinical outcome. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are endogenous non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) of approximately 22 nucleotides (nt) that regulate the expression of target messenger RNAs (mRNAs) at the post-transcriptional level. Increasing evidence shows that miRNAs play key roles in the biological behavior of glioma. They are involved in a wide variety of gliomagenic processes including cell proliferation, invasion and apoptosis by acting as tumor suppressors or oncogenes. MiRNAs may potentially be exploited as biomarkers for diagnosis, prognostication, and even therapeutic targets. Recently, the characterization of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) has received considerable attention. Like their smaller non-coding miRNA counterparts, lncRNAs represent a novel class of gene regulators in cancer. Early evidence demonstrates that the differential expression of specific lncRNAs may also serve as novel biomarkers for diagnosis and therapies. In this chapter, we summarize the recent advances in the investigations of miRNAs and lncRNAs in glioma, and discuss their potentials for clinical use.