Long intergenic non-protein coding RNA 460: Review of its role in carcinogenesis

Abstract

Long intergenic non-coding RNAs (lincRNAs) establish a group of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) that have no overlap with protein-coding genes. These transcripts have been found to affect chromatin configurations, arrange high-order nuclear structures, function as scaffolds for proteins and RNAs and serve as molecular decoys. LINC00460 is a member of this group of lincRNAs that participate in the pathoetiology of cancers. This lincRNA has been found to serve as a sponge for a number of tumor suppressor miRNAs, including miR-539, miR-1224-5p, miR-612, miR-342-3p, miR-485-5p and miR-149-5p, and increase expression of oncogenic targets of these miRNAs. Moreover, through targeting miRNAs that regulate sensitivity to chemotherapeutic agents, it can affect response of cancer cells to these agents. In the current manuscript, we tended to describe the role of LINC00460 in this process through summarizing the results of in vitro, in vivo and human studies.

Introduction

Long intergenic non-coding RNAs (lincRNAs) constitute a group of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) with sizes more than 200 nucleotides and no overlap with protein-coding genes [33]. Most of these transcripts are not evolutionary conserved and have been subjected to rapid evolution, particularly in higher organisms. Other important characteristics of lincRNAs which separate them from mRNAs are their low expression level and high tissue specificity. Moreover, they differ from mRNAs in some other biological aspects such as generation, degradation and epigenetic regulatory mechanisms [33]. The known biological effects of lincRNAs include induction of chromatin configurations that surge or inhibit transcriptional activation, arranging high-order nuclear structures, functioning as scaffolds for proteins and RNAs and serving as molecular decoys [33]. The involvement of lincRNAs in enhancer-like activities has been suggested by the observed effects of lincRNAs transcription on expression of their neighboring genes in an independent way from the lincRNA transcripts themselves [33]. Recent studies have shown participation of these transcripts in the carcinogenic processes. In the current manuscript, we tended to describe the role of LINC00460 in this process through summarizing the results of in vitro, in vivo and human studies. This lncRNA is located on chromosome 13 and has seven variants, all of them being categorized as lncRNAs with no protein coding capacity. These splice variants include LINC00460-207, LINC00460-204, LINC00460-205, LINC00460-206, LINC00460-201, LINC00460-203 and LINC00460-202 with sizes of 2124, 1746, 1522, 1322, 1009, 915 and 857 bp, respectively. Brain, endometrium, lymph node, stomach and testis are tissues with the highest expression of this lincRNA (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gene/728192).