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.
Keywords: cancer; lncRNA; p53; therapy.