The long non-coding RNAs, a new cancer diagnostic and therapeutic gold mine

The conventional view of gene regulation in biology has centered around protein-coding genes via the central dogma of DNA -> mRNA -> protein. The discovery of thousands of long non-coding RNAs (IncRNAs) has certainly changed our view of the complexity of mammalian genomes and transcriptomes, as well as many other aspects of biology including transcriptional and posttranscriptional regulation of gene expression. Accumulating reports of misregulated IncRNA expression across numerous cancer types suggest that aberrant IncRNA expression may be a major contributor to tumorigenesis. Here, we summarize recent data about the biological characteristics of IncRNAs in cancer pathways. These include examples with a wide range of molecular mechanisms involved in gene regulation. We also consider the medical implications, and discuss how IncRNAs can be used for cancer diagnosis and prognosis, and serve as potential therapeutic targets. As more examples of regulation by IncRNA are uncovered, one might predict that the large transcripts will eventually rival small RNAs and proteins in their versatility as regulators of genetic information. Modern Pathology (2013) 26, 155-165; doi:10.1038/modpathol.2012.160; published online 21 September 2012