An emerging understanding of long noncoding RNAs in kidney cancer.

Background: Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are pervasively transcribed in the genome and are emerging as new players in tumorigenesis.

Methods: An electronic search of all relevant publications in peer-reviewed journals before April 2014 was performed on PubMed, Google scholar databases. The keywords of long-coding RNAs, lncRNAs, kidney tumor, renal cancers were used for searching.

Results: The lncRNA biology was introduced into cancer biology from contemporary research, and the regulatory mechanisms of lncRNAs was highlighted at transcriptional, post-transcriptional and epigenetic levels. The kidney cancer-associated onco-lncRNAs (e.g., KCQN1OT1, MALAT-1 and HOTAIT) and tumor suppressive lncRNAs (e.g., H19, GAS5 and MEG3) were summarized and their possible regulatory network was depicted in a comprehensive diagram.

Conclusion: LncRNAs are deregulated in various cancers including kidney cancer, demonstrating both oncogenic and tumor suppressive roles, thus suggesting their aberrant expression may be a substantial contributor in cancer development. LncRNAs could serve as potential diagnostics biomarkers and/or therapeutic targets.