The critical roles of lncRNAs in the pathogenesis of melanoma

Amin Safa; Mahdi Gholipour; Marcel E Dinger; Mohammad Taheri; Soudeh Ghafouri-Fard

doi:10.1016/j.yexmp.2020.104558

The critical roles of lncRNAs in the pathogenesis of melanoma

Exp Mol Pathol. 2020 Dec:117:104558. doi: 10.1016/j.yexmp.2020.104558. Epub 2020 Oct 21.

Authors

Amin Safa¹, Mahdi Gholipour², Marcel E Dinger³, Mohammad Taheri⁴, Soudeh Ghafouri-Fard⁵

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Research and Development, Duy Tan University, Da Nang 550000, Viet Nam.
² Department of Medical Genetics, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
³ School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, University of New South Wales, 2052 Sydney, NSW, Australia.
⁴ Urogenital Stem Cell Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Electronic address: mohammad_823@yahoo.com.
⁵ Department of Medical Genetics, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Electronic address: s.ghafourifard@sbmu.ac.ir.

PMID: 33096077
DOI: 10.1016/j.yexmp.2020.104558

Abstract

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) embrace a huge fraction of human transcripts and participate in the pathogenesis of human disorders especially malignant conditions. Malignant melanoma, as the most fatal type of cutaneous malignnacies, is associated with dysregulation of several lncRNAs including PVT1, H19, MALAT1, and CCAT1. Moreover, a portion of lncRNAs are exclusively expressed in melanoma cell lines. Expression levels of several lncRNAs are associated with TNM stage, tumor size and progression of melanoma. Thus, these lncRNAs are regarded as biomarkers for this malignancy. Peripheral transcript levels of a number of lncRNAs, such as PVT1, SNHG5 and SPRY4-IT1, could distinguish melanoma patients from unaffected persons with appropriate sensitivity and specificity values. Moreover, expression levels of numerous lncRNAs in tissue biopsies could differentiate malignant samples from benign samples. Based on the results of both cell line and in vivo studies, lncRNAs regulate critical pathways in the carcinogenesis of melanoma, such as the PI3K/Akt and NF-κB signaling pathways, and are involved in the modulation of response to chemotherapeutic agents. Here we review the existing information on the role of lncRNAs in malignant melanoma.

Keywords: Biomarker; Melanoma; lncRNA.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Review

MeSH terms

Carcinogenesis / genetics*
Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic / genetics
Humans
Melanoma / genetics*
Melanoma / pathology
RNA, Long Noncoding / classification
RNA, Long Noncoding / genetics*

Substances

CCAT1 long noncoding RNA, human
H19 long non-coding RNA
MALAT1 long non-coding RNA, human
PVT1 long-non-coding RNA, human
RNA, Long Noncoding