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Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Sep 14, 2015; 21(34): 9863-9886
Published online Sep 14, 2015. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v21.i34.9863
Circulating microRNAs and long non-coding RNAs in gastric cancer diagnosis: An update and review
Ya-Kai Huang, Jian-Chun Yu
Ya-Kai Huang, Jian-Chun Yu, Department of General Surgery, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100730, China
Author contributions: Huang YK wrote the paper; and Yu JC reviewed and edited the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
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: Jian-Chun Yu, MD, Department of General Surgery, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, No. 1 Shuaifuyuan, Wangfujing, Dongcheng District, Beijing 100730, China. yjcpumch@126.com
Telephone: +86-10-69152215 Fax: +86-10-69152215
Received: April 3, 2015
Peer-review started: April 4, 2015
First decision: April 23, 2015
Revised: May 15, 2015
Accepted: July 18, 2015
Article in press: July 18, 2015
Published online: September 14, 2015
Processing time: 164 Days and 1 Hours
Abstract

Gastric cancer (GC) is the fourth most common cancer and the third leading cause of cancer mortality worldwide. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) and long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are the most popular non-coding RNAs in cancer research. To date, the roles of miRNAs and lncRNAs have been extensively studied in GC, suggesting that miRNAs and lncRNAs represent a vital component of tumor biology. Furthermore, circulating miRNAs and lncRNAs are found to be dysregulated in patients with GC compared with healthy individuals. Circulating miRNAs and lncRNAs may function as promising biomarkers to improve the early detection of GC. Multiple possibilities for miRNA secretion have been elucidated, including active secretion by microvesicles, exosomes, apoptotic bodies, high-density lipoproteins and protein complexes as well as passive leakage from cells. However, the mechanism underlying lncRNA secretion and the functions of circulating miRNAs and lncRNAs have not been fully illuminated. Concurrently, to standardize results of global investigations of circulating miRNAs and lncRNAs biomarker studies, several recommendations for pre-analytic considerations are put forward. In this review, we summarize the known circulating miRNAs and lncRNAs for GC diagnosis. The possible mechanism of miRNA and lncRNA secretion as well as methodologies for identification of circulating miRNAs and lncRNAs are also discussed. The topics covered here highlight new insights into GC diagnosis and screening.

Keywords: Circulating microRNAs; Circulating long non-coding RNAs; Gastric cancer; Diagnosis; Secretion; Methodologies

Core tip: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) and long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are the most popular non-coding RNAs in cancer research. The roles of miRNAs and lncRNAs have been extensively studied in gastric cancer (GC). Concurrently, circulating miRNAs and lncRNAs may function as promising biomarkers to improve the early detection of GC. In this review, we summarize the known circulating miRNAs and lncRNAs for GC diagnosis. The possible mechanism of miRNA and lncRNA secretion as well as methodologies for identification of circulating miRNAs and lncRNAs are also discussed. The topics covered here highlight new insights into GC diagnosis and screening.