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Copyright ©The Author(s) 2016. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Jan 21, 2016; 22(3): 1213-1223
Published online Jan 21, 2016. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v22.i3.1213
Emerging roles of non-coding RNAs in gastric cancer: Pathogenesis and clinical implications
Shan-Shan Xie, Juan Jin, Xiao Xu, Wei Zhuo, Tian-Hua Zhou
Shan-Shan Xie, Juan Jin, Xiao Xu, Wei Zhuo, Tian-Hua Zhou, Department of Cell Biology and Program in Molecular Cell Biology, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou 310058, Zhejiang Province, China
Wei Zhuo, Tian-Hua Zhou, Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, Hangzhou 310003, Zhejiang Province, China
Wei Zhuo, Tian-Hua Zhou, Institute of Gastroenterology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310016, Zhejiang Province, China
Author contributions: Xie SS and Jin J contributed equally to this work; Xu X contributed in editing; Zhuo W and Zhou TH reviewed and edited the manuscript.
Supported by Ministry of Science and Technology of China, No. 2012CB945004, No. 2013CB945603; Natural Scientific Foundation of China, No. 31125017, No. 31190063, No. 31100975, No. 31301149 and No. 31471259; Ministry of Education of China, No. 20110101110103, No. 20130101120001; Natural Scientific Foundation of Zhejiang Province, China, No. LQ13H160013, No. LY14C070001 and No. LY14C070002; Zhejiang Province Key Science and Technology Innovation Team, No. 2013TD13; Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, No. 2014QNA7015; and the 111 Project, No. B13026.
Conflict-of-interest statement: No potential conflicts of interest relevant to this article were reported.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Tian-Hua Zhou, Professor, Department of Cell Biology and Program in Molecular Cell Biology, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, 866 Yuhangtang Road, Hangzhou 310058, Zhejiang Province, China. tzhou@zju.edu.cn
Telephone: +86-571-88208258 Fax: +86-571-87953806
Received: June 9, 2015
Peer-review started: June 11, 2015
First decision: July 20, 2015
Revised: August 17, 2015
Accepted: November 9, 2015
Article in press: November 9, 2015
Published online: January 21, 2016
Processing time: 220 Days and 0.7 Hours
Abstract

Gastric cancer is a leading cause of cancer-related deaths. However, the mechanisms underlying gastric carcinogenesis remain largely unclear. The association of non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) with cancer has been widely studied during the past decade. In general, ncRNAs have been classified as small ncRNAs, including microRNAs (miRNAs), and long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs). Emerging evidence shows that miRNAs and lncRNAs play key roles in the formation and progression of many cancers. In this review, we focus on the regulation of miRNAs and lncRNAs in gastric cancer. miRNAs and lncRNAs appear to be involved in gastric tumor growth, invasion, and metastasis and in establishment of the gastric tumor microenvironment through various mechanisms. Furthermore, we also discuss the possibilities of establishing miRNAs and lncRNAs as potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets for gastric cancer. Taken together, we summarize the emerging roles of ncRNAs in gastric cancer development and their possible clinical significance.

Keywords: microRNAs; Long non-coding RNAs; Gastric cancer; Cancer invasion; Metastasis

Core tip: Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) are recognized as an important player in multiple physiological and pathological processes through diverse mechanisms. This review summarizes the current knowledge on dysregulation of microRNAs (miRNAs) and long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) in gastric tumor growth, invasion and metastasis. Moreover, the possibilities of targeting miRNAs and lncRNAs in gastric cancer diagnosis, prognosis and treatment are also discussed.