Long Non-coding RNAs in Urologic Malignancies: Functional Roles and Clinical Translation

Early diagnosis and surveillance for metastasis and recurrences are critical issues of urologic cancer. Deregulation of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) has been implicated in urologic malignancies and represents potential markers or therapeutic targets. However, the utility of lncRNA as biomarkers appears to be overstated due to heterogeneous or irreproducible results from different studies. Thus, a critical and cautious review on the biomarker potential of lncRNAs is needed. This review provides an update on new findings of lncRNA-based markers for urologic cancer. The diverse mechanisms and associated examples of lncRNAs involved during the carcinogenesis of prostate cancer, bladder cancer and renal cancer were discussed in a more balanced and critical manner, as were the suitability of lncRNAs as diagnostic or prognostics markers.