Uncovering the roles of long non-coding RNAs in cancer stem cells

Cancer has been a major public health problem that has threatened human life worldwide throughout history. The main causes that contribute to the poor prognosis of cancer are metastasis and recurrence. Cancer stem cells are a group of tumor cells that possess self-renewal and differentiation ability, which is a vital cause of cancer metastasis and recurrence. Long non-coding RNAs refer to a class of RNAs that are longer than 200 nt and have no potential to code proteins, some of which can be specifically expressed in different tissues and different tumors. Long non-coding RNAs have great biological significance in the occurrence and progression of cancers. However, how long non-coding RNAs interact with cancer stem cells and then affect cancer metastasis and recurrence is not yet clear. Therefore, this review aims to summarize recent studies that focus on how long non-coding RNAs impact tumor occurrence and progression by affecting cancer stem cell self-renewal and differentiation in liver cancer, prostate cancer, breast cancer, and glioma. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13045-017-0428-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.