Current research advances of the relationship between non-coding RNAs and tumor / 中华医学遗传学杂志

Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) are RNA molecules that exclude mRNA, tRNA and rRNA, and do not code proteins. ncRNAs play a various roles in the regulation of important vital activities in many organisms such as bacteria, fungi and mammals. Recent researches have shown that ncRNAs, as oncogenes or tumor suppressor genes, have tremendous impacts on the occurrence and development of tumors. Meanwhile, ncRNAs have become a new type of tumor markers and new targets for cancer treatment. This review describes the research progresses of ncRNAs such as small interference RNA and microRNA, and their roles in carcinogenesis.