Long noncoding RNAs as diagnostic biomarkers associated with cancer phenotypes

Increasing evidence suggests that long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) play vital roles in the transformation and maintenance of cancer phenotypes and have important clinical implications. These lncRNAs control important aspects of tumor biology, including proliferation, angiogenesis, metastasis, and the microenvironment by regulating RNA and protein interactions or through their ability to base pair with RNA and DNA. In this study, we review the mechanism of the function of lncRNAs in cancer and their diagnostic roles in cancer phenotypes, which make them attractive as non-invasive biomarkers from body fluid samples for different types of cancer.