Bidirectional expression of long ncRNA/protein-coding gene pairs in cancer

Bidirectional initiation of transcription by RNA polymerase II occurs prevalently at active promoters during protein-coding gene (PCG) expression. Upstream, antisense noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs) of differing lengths, stabilities and processings are being expressed from these promoters in concert with downstream, processive messenger RNA transcription. Although abundantly detected, the functional role and regulatory capacity of such transcripts have only been determined for individual cases. Long ncRNAs in general are reportedly able to regulate all steps of the gene expression process. Therefore, to get insight into the functionality of long ncRNAs transcribed bidirectionally from cancer-associated PCGs is of interest, as expression changes of tumor suppressor genes and oncogenes are prevalent in cancer. Here, we review the sources and characteristics of antisense transcription occurring at PCG loci in the human genome, and focus on the functional impact of bidirectional long ncRNA expression at cancer-associated PCGs.