Critical roles of long noncoding RNA H19 in cancer.

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are a category of noncoding RNAs characterized by their length, often exceeding 200 nucleotides. There is a growing body of data that indicate the significant involvement of lncRNAs in a wide range of disorders, including cancer. lncRNA H19 was among the initial lncRNAs to be identified and is transcribed from the H19 gene. The H19 lncRNA exhibits significant upregulation in a diverse range of human malignancies, such as breast, colorectal, pancreatic, glioma, and gastric cancer. Moreover, the overexpression of H19 is frequently associated with a worse prognosis among individuals diagnosed with cancer. H19 has been shown to have a role in facilitating several cellular processes, including cell proliferation, invasion, migration, epithelial-mesenchymal transition, metastasis, and apoptosis. This article summarizes the aberrant upregulation of H19 in human malignancies, indicating promising avenues for future investigations on cancer diagnostics and therapeutic interventions.

Nanotechnology-empowered lung cancer therapy: From EMT role in cancer metastasis to application of nanoengineered structures for modulating growth and metastasis.

Lung cancer is one of the leading causes of death in both males and females, and it is the first causes of cancer-related deaths. Chemotherapy, surgery and radiotherapy are conventional treatment of lung cancer and recently, immunotherapy has been also appeared as another therapeutic strategy for lung tumor. However, since previous treatments have not been successful in cancer therapy and improving prognosis and survival rate of lung tumor patients, new studies have focused on gene therapy and targeting underlying molecular pathways involved in lung cancer progression. Nanoparticles have been emerged in treatment of lung cancer that can mediate targeted delivery of drugs and genes. Nanoparticles protect drugs and genes against unexpected interactions in blood circulation and improve their circulation time. Nanoparticles can induce phototherapy in lung cancer ablation and mediating cell death. Nanoparticles can induce photothermal and photodynamic therapy in lung cancer. The nanostructures can impair metastasis of lung cancer and suppress EMT in improving drug sensitivity. Metastasis is one of the drawbacks observed in lung cancer that promotes migration of tumor cells and allows them to establish new colony in secondary site. EMT can occur in lung cancer and promotes tumor invasion. EMT is not certain to lung cancer and it can be observed in other human cancers, but since lung cancer has highest incidence rate, understanding EMT function in lung cancer is beneficial in improving prognosis of patients. EMT induction in lung cancer promotes tumor invasion and it can also lead to drug resistance and radio-resistance. Moreover, non-coding RNAs and pharmacological compounds can regulate EMT in lung cancer and EMT-TFs such as Twist and Slug are important modulators of lung cancer invasion that are discussed in current review.