The role of long noncoding RNA in major human disease

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are RNAs whose transcripts are longer than 200nt in length and lack the ability to encode proteins due to lack of specific open reading frames. lncRNAs were once thought to represent transcriptome noise or garbage sequences and a byproduct of RNA polymerase II (Pol II), and thereby ignored by researchers. In fact, lncRNA was involved in a wide variety of physiological and pathological processes in organisms. Comprehensive study of lncRNA does not only provide explanations to the physiological and pathological processes of living organisms, but also gives us new perspectives to the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of some clinical diseases. Therefore, the study of lncRNA is a very broad field of great research value and significance. This article reviews the function of lncRNAs and their role in major human diseases. Numerous studies show that lncRNA might serve as a biomarker for diagnosis and prognosis of various diseases. Compared to conventional biomarkers, lncRNA seems to have a higher diagnostic and prognostic values, not only because of their tissue and disease specific expression patterns, but also due to their highly stable physical and chemical properties.