LncRNAs in Cancer Development

Abstract

The goal of this chapter is to make an overview of the identified changes in lncRNAs expression levels accompanying cancer development. In general, the statistics allows us to establish a fact of association between the phenomenon and the process, but not to discover underlying mechanisms. In the context of the discussed topic, the phenomenon and the process are changes in lncRNA expression levels and cancer development. However, the underlying mechanisms, allowing such changes as in lncRNAs expression levels to have an impact on the cancer development, mostly remain uncertain and not clear. The first part of the chapter aims to shortly highlight the possible mechanisms of lncRNAs’ impacts on the main processes of cancer development, like EMT, cancer cell progression, invasion, and metastasis. The second part examines in more detail the role of lncRNAs in some of the main nosology of oncological diseases: The participation of lncRNAs in the formation and development of breast cancer is considered, the main aspects of the importance of lncRNAs in lung cancer are presented, and studies on the participation of lncRNAs in the formation of colorectal cancer are described.