Content area
Full text
Introduction
Leukemia, a malignant clonal disease of hematopoietic stem cells, is caused by the enhancement of self-renewal, uncontrolled proliferation, dysdifferentiation and the blocked apoptosis of leukemia cells, resulting in cell developmental stagnation at different stages (1). Although the prognosis of patients with leukemia has improved in the pediatric field, the general 5-year survival rate of patients with leukemia in the disparate age groups remains 40% (2). To date, the specific mechanisms giving rise to the occurrence and development of leukemia have not yet been fully clarified. The disease may be related to genetic, radiation, chemical substances, viral infection and other factors, which can lead to molecular alterations, such as gene mutation and chromosome rearrangements in the body (3,4). Accordingly, previous studies have revealed that the condition of leukemia may be associated with the high heterogeneity of cellular and molecular genetics; thus, chromosomal abnormalities and gene mutations are important prognostic indicators for patients with leukemia (5,6). In recent years, a number of studies have discovered that multiple long-chain non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are associated with the occurrence and development of leukemia, which may provide novel markers and targets for the diagnosis and therapy of leukemia (7-9).
lncRNAs, which are non-coding RNAs with a length of >200 nucleotides, are located in the nucleus or cytoplasm and lack an open reading frame and thus have no protein coding function (10). Compared with microRNAs (miRNAs or miRs), lncRNAs are still a relatively unknown field in clinical practice. In the past, it was considered that lncRNAs only act as a structure without obvious biological function. Recently, lncRNAs have gradually become one of the research hotspots in leukemia, and have been found to play a crucial role in the process of gene transcription and assist in gene regulation via protein-coding genes (11,12). Although lncRNAs cannot encode proteins, they are involved in gene expression through epigenetics, transcriptional timing and the post-transcriptional regulation of genes, so as to regulate the growth of organisms, the directional differentiation of cells, subcellular structure and distribution, as well as human diseases (13).
In disease applications, lncRNAs are associated with the occurrence, development and prognosis of various types of tumors, such as colorectal cancer, breast cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma and lung cancer (14). In addition, lncRNAs are also involved in...