Roles of long non-coding RNAs in cervical cancer

Cervical cancer (CC) is regarded as the second serious threat to women's health worldwide; it's associated with certain viruses that are transmitted through sexual intercourse. Therefore, the pathogenesis of CC remains to be studied. The identified long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) as a key genomic product were found to be commonly dysregulated in CC and to exert significant effects in the initiation, migration, invasion and therapeutic response of CC. Therefore lncRNAs may be used as tumor suppressor genes or oncogenes to interact with DNA, RNA or proteins for the regulation of gene expression and cell signaling pathways. The relationship between single lncRNA and CC has been discovered. However, full-scale reviews on the lncRNAs function in CC are deficiency. In this review, we describe the recent reports on the dysregulated patterns regulation of lncRNAs in CC. We also conclude the recent advances on biologic functions and molecular regulation mechanism and potential clinical application of lncRNAs in CC. •LncRNAs are involved in the development of cervical cancer.•LncRNAs play critical roles in tumor metastasis and drug resistance of cervical cancer.•LncRNAs can be used as biomarkers for cervical cancer.