Recent advances in unraveling the molecular mechanisms and functions of HOXA11-AS in human cancers and other diseases

A large number of previously published research articles have demonstrated that the expression levels of long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are generally dysregulated, either through overexpression or underexpression, in cancer and other types of disease. As a recently discovered lncRNA, HOXA11 antisense RNA (HOXA11-AS) is able to serve as an oncogenic or tumor-suppressor gene and serves a vital role in the processes of proliferation, invasion, and migration of cancer cells. HOXA11-AS appears to be a major factor contributing to epigenetic modification, and exerts transcriptional, post-transcriptional, translational and post-translational regulatory effects on genes through a variety of mechanisms; for example, by competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) and a molecular scaffold mechanism. A number of reports have demonstrated that HOXA11-AS functions as a protein scaffold for polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2), lysine-specific histone demethylase 1 (LSD1) and DNA methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1) to perform epigenetic modifications on chromosomes in the nucleus. Furthermore, HOXA11-AS is also located in the cytoplasm and can act as a ceRNA, which sponges miRNAs. In addition, HOXA11-AS may be useful as a biomarker for the diagnosis and prognosis of cancer. In the present review article, the clinical value, phenotype and mechanism of HOXA11-AS in a variety of tumors types are briefly summarized, as well as its clinical value in certain additional diseases. The perspective of the authors is that HOXA11-AS may represent an effective tumor marker and therapeutic target for cancer diagnosis and therapy.