The Role of Long Non-Coding RNAs in Ovarian Cancer

Background: Ovarian cancer is the most fatal tumor of female's reproductive system, and several genetics and environmental factors are involved in its development. Various studies have already identified suitable biomarkers to facilitate the early detection, prognosis evaluation, and the assessment of treatment response. However, the aim of this review was to investigate the role of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) in tumorigenesis process of ovarian cancer and their potential applications as ovarian cancer biomarkers. Methods: We performed an online literature search of the MEDLINE/PubMed databases using the key words ovarian cancer, lncRNA, and biomarker. Results: We found that several lncRNAs have been shown to be deregulated in ovarian cancer and the specific mechanism of their enrollment in ovarian cancer has been defined for a few of them. In addition, expression profiling has revealed an association between lncRNAs and patients’ survival, metastasis potential as well as treatment response. Conclusions: Expression profiling as well as methylation analysis of lncRNAs in ovarian cancer may lead to the identification of novel biomarkers that can help in the classification of patients based on prognosis and treatment response.