About this Research Topic
Originally classified as ‘junk DNA’, genomic regions which are transcribed into RNAs that do not serve as template for protein production have attracted increasing attention in the last two decades. The discovery of a very rich and diverse set of non-coding RNA transcripts has been possible thanks to technological and bioinformatic advances in transcriptomic methods. Some of these regions are of unknown function, but increasing evidence has shown that non-coding RNAs, short and long, play a crucial regulatory role in almost every know biological process. While some of the mechanisms of biogenesis and regulation of non-coding RNAs still need to be elucidated, several non-coding RNAs are implicated in the pathogenesis of human diseases, including microRNAs (miRNAs), Piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) and more recently long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) and circular RNAs (circRNAs).
In fact, the expression and function of these non-coding RNAs is often dysregulated in human diseases, where they have been proposed as diagnostic or prognostic biomarkers and as future target for therapeutic strategies. However, the bench-to-bedside translation of these findings faces several challenges, including diagnostic performance, reproducibility between studies, conservation of function between mouse and human and delivery of the therapeutics into the organ of interest. Nonetheless, over one thousand entries appear in clinicaltrials.gov when using ‘microRNAs’ as search term, and hundreds of entries when searching for ‘piRNAs’, ‘lncRNAs’ or ‘circRNAs’, suggesting that the non-coding RNA field is advancing rapidly towards the clinic.
The aim of this Research Topic is to expand our understanding of the potential application of non-coding RNAs, either as biomarkers or therapeutics, in the context of human diseases, and the challenges associated with that. We welcome findings from basic, translational and clinical research, and we are particularly interested in research focused on diseases whose diagnosis, prognosis or treatment are not available yet and where non-coding RNAs could represent a future option as diagnostic, prognostic or therapeutic tools.
In fact, the expression and function of these non-coding RNAs is often dysregulated in human diseases, where they have been proposed as diagnostic or prognostic biomarkers and as future target for therapeutic strategies. However, the bench-to-bedside translation of these findings faces several challenges, including diagnostic performance, reproducibility between studies, conservation of function between mouse and human and delivery of the therapeutics into the organ of interest. Nonetheless, over one thousand entries appear in clinicaltrials.gov when using ‘microRNAs’ as search term, and hundreds of entries when searching for ‘piRNAs’, ‘lncRNAs’ or ‘circRNAs’, suggesting that the non-coding RNA field is advancing rapidly towards the clinic.
The aim of this Research Topic is to expand our understanding of the potential application of non-coding RNAs, either as biomarkers or therapeutics, in the context of human diseases, and the challenges associated with that. We welcome findings from basic, translational and clinical research, and we are particularly interested in research focused on diseases whose diagnosis, prognosis or treatment are not available yet and where non-coding RNAs could represent a future option as diagnostic, prognostic or therapeutic tools.
Keywords: non-coding RNAs, biomarkers, therapeutics diagnostics, prognostics
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
