Molecular Function and Clinical Value of Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) in Cancer Regulation

Dear Colleagues,

Only 2% of the human genome consists of protein-coding genes, while the ENCODE project has shown that >75% of the genome is actively transcribed into noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs). The increase of ncRNAs and their active implication in most cellular/molecular processes have challenged the concept of “junk DNA”, leading to a novel biochemically functional RNA family and to a modern dogma of gene expression regulation.

Although cancer research remains focused on protein-coding genes, non-coding genome regions and ncRNAs have gained ever-growing attention due to their central implication in regulation of gene expression and, thus, to tumorigenesis and cancer progression. Undoubtedly, microRNAs (miRNAs) and long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) represent the most studied classes of the family, but piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs), short-interfering RNAs (siRNAs), tRNA-derived fragments (tRFs), and circular RNAs (circRNAs) are emerging as novel promising targets of modern translational cancer research.

This Topical Collection of Cancers will focus on the molecular/biochemical functions of ncRNAs (miRNAs, lncRNAs, tRFs, piRNAs, circRNAs, etc.) in the complex background of tumorigenesis, cancer progression, and metastasis, as well as their clinical utility in modern molecular diagnostics for cancer diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment decisions/monitoring, supporting personalized disease management and precision medicine.

Dr. Margaritis Avgeris
Dr. Andreas Scorilas
Collection Editors

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