Involvement of long non-coding RNAs in glioblastoma and research approaches and techniques to study lncRNAs in tumors: a review

Abstract

Glioblastoma is recognized as the most aggressive tumor of the central nervous system, accounting for the majority of gliomas (57.3%) and approximately 15% of all brain tumors. Additionally, it represents 48.3% of primary malignant intracranial tumors. Overall survival extension among patients with glioblastoma remains challenging despite improvements in post-surgical treatments, including chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Consequently, the development of novel therapeutic approaches specifically targeting glioma is of critical clinical relevance. Long non-coding RNAs, a class of non-coding RNAs longer than 200 nucleotides (nt), once considered as “noise” of transcription, are now acknowledged to play a critical role in a variety of molecular processes at the transcriptional, post-transcriptional, and epigenetic levels, as well as in numerous physiological and pathological processes. A dysregulation of lncRNAs in glioma affects and alters many signaling pathways. A significant number of these lncRNAs have been discovered due to advances in high-throughput sequencing technology, which has also revealed their strong correlation with tumor development and progression, as well as their interaction with microRNAs. Nowadays, lncRNAs are thought to be promising targets for diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic purposes. In this review, we will describe some lncRNAs and detail their classification and cellular localization, as well as their mechanisms of action and how they affect and alter many signaling pathways in glioblastoma. We will also discuss several research strategies for identifying and characterizing lncRNAs in tumors.

Keywords

• bioinformatic tools
• glioma
• glioblastoma
• lncrnas
• molecular pathways
• research approaches
• signaling pathways
• therapeutic targets
• transcription regulation