Crucial role of non-coding RNAs in disease

Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) are RNA molecules with no/limited protein coding capacity. They are major components among total RNAs in human cells and were initially thought as non-functional junk RNA, ignored for a long time. During the last decades, owing to the improvement of sequencing technology and bioinformatics analysis, more and more ncRNAs with important biological function have been characterized and identified in different organisms. Increasing evidences show that ncRNAs play important roles in physiological and pathological processes, so ncRNAs are widely involved in human diseases, such as cancer, metabolism disorder, neurodegenerative diseases, etc.
Source: Cancer Letters - Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Tags: Editorial Source Type: research