Cell Cycle-Related lncRNAs as Innovative Targets to Advance Cancer Management

Abstract

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) longer than 200nt. They have complex biological functions and take part in multiple fundamental biological processes, such as cell proliferation, differentiation, survival and apoptosis. Recent studies suggest that lncRNAs modulate critical regulatory proteins involved in cancer cell cycle, such as cyclin, cell cycle protein-dependent kinases (CDK) and cell cycle protein-dependent kinase inhibitors (CKI) through different mechanisms. To clarify the role of lncRNAs in the regulation of cell cycle will provide new ideas for design of antitumor therapies which intervene with the cell cycle progression. In this paper, we review the recent studies about the controlling of lncRNAs on cell cycle related proteins such as cyclin, CDK and CKI in different cancers. We further outline the different mechanisms involved in this regulation and describe the emerging role of cell cycle-related lncRNAs in cancer diagnosis and therapy.

Keywords:

• cyclin
• cyclin-CDK
• CDK inhibitors
• lncRNA

Author Contributions

All authors made significant contributions to the reported work, including the conceptualization, literature collection, figure, and tabulation, or in all of these areas; participated in drafting, revising, or critically reviewing the article; gave final approval to the version to be published; have agreed on the journal to which the article has been submitted; and have agreed to take responsibility for all aspects of the work.

Disclosure

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.

Additional information

Funding

The study was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32000495), National Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (ZR2020MH202 and ZR2020MH250).