Long non-coding RNAs in colorectal cancer

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the leading causes of cancer-related death worldwide. Despite substantial progress in understanding the molecular mechanisms and treatment of CRC in recent years, the overall survival rate of CRC patients has not improved dramatically. The development of CRC is multifactor and multistep processes, in which abnormal gene expression may play an important role. With the advance of human tumor molecular biology, a series of studies have highlighted the role of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) in the development of CRC. CRC-related lncRNAs have been demonstrated to regulate the genes by various mechanisms, including epigenetic modifications, lncRNA-miRNA and lncRNA-protein interactions, and by their actions as miRNA precursors or pseudogenes. Since some lncRNAs can be detected in human body fluid and have good specificity and accessibility, they have been suggested to be used as novel potential biomarkers for CRC diagnosis and prognosis as well as in the prediction of the response to therapy. Therefore, in this review, we will focus on lncRNAs in CRC development, the mechanisms and biomarkers of lncRNAs in CRC.