Functional roles of circular RNAs during epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition.

Cancer has become a major health issue worldwide, contributing to a high mortality rate. Tumor metastasis is attributed to the death of most patients. Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) plays a vital role in inducing metastasis. During EMT, epithelial cells lose their characteristics, such as cell-to-cell adhesion and cell polarity, and cells gain motility, migratory potential, and invasive properties to become mesenchymal stem cells. Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are closely associated with tumor metastasis and patient prognosis, as revealed by increasing lines of evidence. CircRNA is a type of single-stranded RNA that forms a covalently closed continuous loop. CircRNAs are insensitive to ribonucleases and are widespread in body fluids. This work is the first review on EMT-related circRNAs. In this review, we briefly discuss the characteristics and functions of circRNAs. The correlation of circRNAs with EMT has been reported, and we discuss the ways circRNAs can regulate EMT progression through EMT transcription factors, EMT-related signaling pathways, and other mechanisms. This work summarizes current studies on EMT-related circRNAs in various cancers and provides a theoretical basis for the use of EMT-related circRNAs in targeted management and therapy.

LncRNA LINC00460 facilitates the proliferation and metastasis of renal cell carcinoma via PI3K/AKT signaling pathway.

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is one of the most prevalent cancers diseases in the worldwide. Long noncoding RNAs (LncRNAs) have been indicated as a mediator acted in tumorigenesis of RCC. LINC00460 has been reported to participate in many kinds of malignancies and promotes cancer progressions. However, the mechanism of LINC00460 on RCC is yet to be investigated. This study aimed to explore the potential function and regulation mechanism of LINC00460 in RCC. We analysed the LINC00460 expression and the prognosis in RCC patients using Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis (GEPIA) and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) databases. LINC00460 level in normal renal cell line and RCC cell lines were examined by qRT-PCR. We study the effects of LINC00460 on proliferation, migration, invasion, apoptosis in RCC cells lines using a series of in vivo and in vitro experiments. RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) analysis was applied to searching potential LINC00460 related signal pathway in RCC. We identified the significant up-regulated expression of LINC00460 both in RCC tissues and cell. RCC patients with elevated LINC00460 expression have shorter survival. Up-expression of LINC00460 promoted cell proliferation, invasion and migration, meanwhile down-regulation of LINC00460 exerted inhibitory effect on these activities. We crucially identified that LNC00460 promotes development of RCC by influencing the PI3K/AKT pathway. Knockdown of LNC00460 decreased the phosphorylation of AKT and mTOR. The key finding of our study showed that LINC00460 functions as an oncogene in RCC pathogenesis by mediating the PI3K/AKT.

Role of Circular RNA in Kidney-Related Diseases.

The kidney is vital in maintaining fluid, electrolyte, and acid-base balance. Kidney-related diseases, which are an increasing public health issue, can happen to people of any age and at any time. Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are endogenous RNA that are produced by selective RNA splicing and are involved in progression of various diseases. Studies have shown that various kidney diseases, including renal cell carcinoma, acute kidney injury, and chronic kidney disease, are linked to circRNAs. This review outlines the characteristics and biological functions of circRNAs and discusses specific studies that provide insights into the function and potential of circRNAs for application in the diagnosis and treatment of kidney-related diseases.

Emerging Roles of p53 Related lncRNAs in Cancer Progression: A Systematic Review.

p53 is the major mediator of the tumor suppressor response. It participates in apoptosis and senescence and can respond to DNA damage. As a crucial sequence-specific transcription factor, p53 regulates the expression of many genes, such as small noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs), microRNAs, and long ncRNAs (lncRNAs). Given the emergence of novel and high-throughput sequencing technologies, many lncRNAs have been discovered. LncRNAs may function as vital gene regulators in a variety of biological processes through extensive mechanisms. Recently, lncRNAs have been demonstrated to be associated with the p53 regulatory pathway. In this review, we discuss the current and fast growing knowledge about the influence of lncRNAs to the p53 signaling pathway, the different mechanisms by which they affect gene expression in cancer. Our findings show that p53-associated lncRNAs may be used as biomarkers for cancer diagnosis or targets for disease therapy.

The roles of Wnt/ß-catenin signaling pathway related lncRNAs in cancer.

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs), with length of more than 200 nucleotides, are not translated into proteins but involved in multiple diverse diseases, especially tumorigenesis. The dysregulation of lncRNAs greatly contributes to the progression of various tumors through specific signaling pathways, including Wnt/ß-catenin signaling pathway, which is associated with malignant features of tumors. The interactions between lncRNAs, which have specific expression characteristics in diverse cancer tissues, and Wnt/ß-catenin signaling pathway, exhibit potential as novel biomarkers and therapeutic targets. In this review, we aim to present research findings on the roles of Wnt pathway-related lncRNAs and their effects on Wnt/ß-catenin signaling to regulate tumorigenesis in different cancer types. Results may be used as basis to develop or improve strategies for treatment of different carcinomas.