Autophagy and Gastrointestinal Cancers: The Behind the Scenes Role of Long Non-Coding Rnas in Initiation, Progression, and Treatment Resistance Publisher Pubmed



Shafabakhsh R¹ ; Arianfar F² ; Vosough M³ ; Mirzaei HR⁴ ; Mahjoubintehran M^{5, 6} ; Khanbabaei H⁷ ; Kowsari H¹ ; Shojaie L⁸ ; Azar MEF⁹ ; Hamblin MR¹⁰ ; Mirzaei H¹
Source: Cancer Gene Therapy Published:2021

Abstract

Gastrointestinal (GI) cancers comprise a heterogeneous group of complex disorders that affect different organs, including esophagus, stomach, gallbladder, liver, biliary tract, pancreas, small intestine, colon, rectum, and anus. Recently, an explosion in nucleic acid-based technologies has led to the discovery of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) that have been found to possess unique regulatory functions. This class of RNAs is >200 nucleotides in length, and is characterized by their lack of protein coding. LncRNAs exert regulatory effects in GI cancer development by affecting different functions such as the proliferation and metastasis of cancer cells, apoptosis, glycolysis and angiogenesis. Over the past few decades, considerable evidence has revealed the important role of autophagy in both GI cancer progression and suppression. In addition, recent studies have confirmed a significant correlation between lncRNAs and the regulation of autophagy. In this review, we summarize how lncRNAs play a behind the scenes role in the pathogenesis of GI cancers through regulation of autophagy. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature America, Inc.