Long Non-Coding RNAs in Alzheimer's Disease

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder with progressive damage to brain cells. It is the leading cause of dementia worldwide that is characterized by impairment of memory and eventually by reasoning and perception disturbances. No curative treatment for dementia is currently available. With the progress of RNA sequencing and transcriptome analysis, the discovery of non-protein coding RNAs expands our knowledge about the genome. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) which are involved in a wide variety of biological processes as regulatory molecule, have been the focus of much recent research. In this review, we focus on the emerging roles of these lncRNAs in the pathology of Alzheimer's disease. Their expressions are brain-specific and dysregulated in the patient and animal model. Here, we will summarize the pathological features influenced by lncRNAs and therefore provide an lncRNA point-of-view on AD. This should stimulate new research directions and therapeutic options considering lncRNAs as novel prognostic markers and therapeutic targets.