In recent years, long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been shown to play important regulatory roles in cellular processes. Growth arrests specific transcript 5 (GAS5) is a lncRNA that is highly expressed during the cell cycle arrest phase but is downregulated in actively growing cells. Growth arrests specific transcript 5 was discovered to be downregulated in several cancers, primarily solid tumors, and it is known as a tumor suppressor gene that regulates cell proliferation, invasion, migration, and apoptosis via multiple molecular mechanisms. Furthermore, GAS5 polymorphism was found to affect GAS5 expression and functionality in a cell-specific manner. This review article focuses on GAS5's tumor-suppressive effects in regulating oncogenic signaling pathways, cell cycle, apoptosis, tumor-associated genes, and treatment-resistant cells. We also discussed genetic polymorphisms of GAS5 and their association with cancer susceptibility.
Keywords: GAS5; growth-arrest specific transcript 5; lncRNA; polymorphism; tumor suppressor.