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Copyright ©The Author(s) 2016. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Aug 7, 2016; 22(29): 6610-6618
Published online Aug 7, 2016. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v22.i29.6610
Noncoding RNAs in gastric cancer: Research progress and prospects
Meng Zhang, Xiang Du
Meng Zhang, Xiang Du, Department of Pathology, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, Shanghai 200032, China
Meng Zhang, Xiang Du, Department of Pathology, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China
Author contributions: Zhang M searched the literature and wrote this paper; and Du X reviewed this literature and approved the final version.
Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 81472220; Shanghai Science and Technology Development Fund, Domestic Science and Technology Cooperation Project, No. 14495800300.
Conflict-of-interest statement: We declared no conflict of interest.
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: Xiang Du, PhD, Department of Pathology, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, No.270 Dong'an Road, Shanghai 200032, China. dx2008cn@163.com
Telephone: +86-21-64170067 Fax: +86-21-64170067
Received: March 24, 2016
Peer-review started: March 25, 2016
First decision: May 12, 2016
Revised: May 26, 2016
Accepted: June 15, 2016
Article in press: June 15, 2016
Published online: August 7, 2016
Abstract

Noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs) have attracted much attention in cancer research field. They are involved in cellular development, proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis. The dysregulation of ncRNAs has been reported in tumor initiation, progression, invasion and metastasis in various cancers, including gastric cancer (GC). In the past few years, an accumulating body of evidence has deepened our understanding of ncRNAs, and several emerging ncRNAs have been identified, such as PIWI-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) and circular RNAs (circRNAs). The competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) networks include mRNAs, microRNAs, long ncRNAs (lncRNAs) and circRNAs, which play critical roles in the tumorigenesis of GC. This review summarizes the recent hotspots of ncRNAs involved in GC pathobiology and their potential applications in GC. Finally, we briefly discuss the advances in the ceRNA network in GC.

Keywords: Noncoding RNAs, Gastric cancer, MicroRNA, Long ncRNAs, PIWI-interacting RNAs, Competing endogenous RNA

Core tip: Accumulating data have deepened our understanding of the contribution of noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs) in cancer development, and several emerging ncRNAs have been identified, such as PIWI-interacting RNAs and circular RNAs. The competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) network hypothesis represents a widespread form of post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression. However, their function and mechanism remain unknown. This review summarizes the recent advances of ncRNAs involved in gastric cancer (GC) pathobiology and their potential applications in GC, as well as advances in ceRNA networks.