长链非编码RNA在消化系统肿瘤中的研究进展

Progress with long non-coding RNAs in human digestive system cancer

长链非编码RNA(lncRNA)是一系列广泛转录自人及其他哺乳动物基因组的长度超过200 nt的核苷酸片段,通常没有蛋白编码功能,一度被认为是基因组的转录"噪音"。近年来一些lncRNA被发现具有多种生物学功能,成为分子生物学领域研究的热点。已经在多种肿瘤中发现有lncRNA的异常表达,并且异常表达的lncRNA和肿瘤的复发、转移及预后有关。本文中将探讨近期发现的与消化系统肿瘤相关的lncRNA,部分着重于具有促癌作用的lncRNA,以期为消化系统肿瘤的诊断、预后及分子治疗提供线索。

Long non-coding RNAs （lncRNAs） are defined as transcripts longer than 200 nt with little or no protein-coding capacity generally transcribed in the human and other mammalian genome. Early research proposed that lncRNAs may simply represent transcriptional noise. Recent studys demonstrate that they are related to a wide range of biological functions, thus lncRNA become the rising new star of RNA research. Lots of lncRNAs are dysregulated in different kinds of cancer, and the expression levels of certain lncRNAs are associated with recurrence, metastasis, and prognosis of cancer. In this review, we focus on recent lncRNAs in the digestive system cancer, particularly on the lncRNAs as novel drivers of tumorigenesis, to provide new insights into the diagnosis and treatment of digestive system cancer in clinics.