Exploiting Long Non-Coding RNAs and Circular RNAs as Pharmacological Targets in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Treatment

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Triple-negative breast cancer accounts for 15–20% of breast tumors. It is a very aggressive and heterogeneous disease characterized by the absence of druggable molecular targets. In that context, understanding the role of non-coding RNAs and their implication in tumorigenesis could represent an opportunity for the development of new therapeutic strategies, as well as for the identification of reliable prognostic biomarkers. Recurrence and development of drugs-resistance represents the most challenging aspects in triple-negative breast cancer. Non-coding RNAs’ unique characteristics make them reliable biomarkers for monitoring cancer treatment, potentially able to identify recurrence or chemoresistance. ABSTRACT: Breast cancer is one of the most frequent causes of cancer death among women worldwide. In particular, triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) represents the most aggressive breast cancer subtype because it is characterized by the absence of molecular targets, thus making it an orphan type of malignancy. The discovery of new molecular druggable targets is mandatory to improve treatment success. In that context, non-coding RNAs represent an opportunity for modulation of cancer. They are RNA molecules with apparently no protein coding potential, which have been already demonstrated to play pivotal roles within cells, being involved in different processes, such as proliferation, cell cycle regulation, apoptosis, migration, and diseases, including cancer. Accordingly, they could be used as targets for future TNBC personalized therapy. Moreover, the peculiar characteristics of non-coding RNAs make them reliable biomarkers to monitor cancer treatment, thus, to monitor recurrence or chemoresistance, which are the most challenging aspects in TNBC. In the present review, we focused on the oncogenic or oncosuppressor role of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) and circular RNAs (circRNAs) mostly involved in TNBC, highlighting their mode of action and depicting their potential role as a biomarker and/or as targets of new non-coding RNA-based therapeutics.