Non‑coding RNA: A promising diagnostic biomarker and therapeutic target for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (Review)

Longze Zhang; Yanyang Wang; Jianmei Gao; Xue Zhou; Minglei Huang; Xianyao Wang; Zhixu He

doi:10.3892/ol.2024.14388

Non‑coding RNA: A promising diagnostic biomarker and therapeutic target for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (Review)

Oncol Lett. 2024 Apr 9;27(6):255. doi: 10.3892/ol.2024.14388. eCollection 2024 Jun.

Authors

Longze Zhang^{1

2}, Yanyang Wang^{2

3}, Jianmei Gao⁴, Xue Zhou^{1

2}, Minglei Huang^{1

2}, Xianyao Wang^{1

2}, Zhixu He^{2

3

5}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Immunology, Zunyi Medical University, Zunyi, Guizhou 563000, P.R. China.
² Collaborative Innovation Center of Tissue Damage Repair and Regeneration Medicine, Zunyi Medical University, Zunyi, Guizhou 563000, P.R. China.
³ Department of Cell Engineering Laboratory, Affiliated Hospital of Zunyi Medical University, Zunyi, Guizhou 563000, P.R. China.
⁴ School of Pharmacy, Zunyi Medical University, Zunyi, Guizhou 563000, P.R. China.
⁵ Department of Pediatrics, Affiliated Hospital of Zunyi Medical University, Zunyi, Guizhou 563000, P.R. China.

Abstract

Esophageal cancer (EC) is a common form of malignant tumor in the digestive system that is classified into two types: Esophageal squamous cell carcinomas (ESCC) and esophageal adenocarcinoma. ESCC is known for its early onset of symptoms, which can be difficult to identify, as well as its rapid progression and tendency to develop drug resistance to chemotherapy and radiotherapy. These factors contribute to the high incidence of disease and low cure rate. Therefore, a diagnostic biomarker and therapeutic target need to be identified for ESCC. Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) are a class of molecules that are transcribed from DNA but do not encode proteins. Initially, ncRNAs were considered to be non-functional segments generated during transcription. However, with advancements in high-throughput sequencing technologies in recent years, ncRNAs have been associated with poor prognosis, drug resistance and progression of ESCC. The present study provides a comprehensive overview of the biogenesis, characteristics and functions of ncRNAs, particularly focusing on microRNA, long ncRNAs and circular RNAs. Furthermore, the ncRNAs that could potentially be used as diagnostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets for ESCC are summarized to highlight their application value and prospects in ESCC.

Keywords: biomarkers; circular RNA; esophageal squamous cell carcinoma; long non-coding RNA; microRNA; non-coding RNA; therapeutic targets.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant nos. 32270848 and 82360044), the Collaborative Innovation Center of Chinese Ministry of Education (grant no. 2020-39), the Guizhou Provincial Natural Science Foundation [grant nos. ZK(2022)-607 and ZK(2024)-269], the Science and Technology Plan Project of Guizhou Province (grant no. 2020-032) and the Guizhou Provincial Traditional Chinese Medicine Project (grant no. QZYY-2022-027).