Emerging players in prostate cancer: long non-coding RNAs.

Recent observations of novel long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have considerably altered our understanding of cell biology. The role of lncRNAs as tumor suppressors or oncogenes has been extensively studied. Over-expression of oncogenic lncRNAs promotes tumor-cell proliferation and metastasis through chromatin looping and distal engagement with the androgen receptor, anti-sense gene regulation, alternative splicing, and impeding DNA repair. Prostate cancer is the most common type of cancer and frequent cause of cancer-related mortality in men worldwide. Unraveling the molecular and biological processes that contribute to prostate cancer development and progression is a challenging task. In prostate cancer, aberrant expression of lncRNAs has been associated with disease progression. In this review, we highlight the emerging impact of lncRNAs in prostate cancer research, with a particular focus on the mechanisms and functions of lncRNAs. Increased research on lncRNAs will lead to a greater understanding of prostate cancercinogenesis and progression and may lead to novel clinical applications. LncRNAs have great potential to become new biomarkers for detection, prognostication and prediction in prostate cancer.