Decoding the Emerging Patterns Exhibited in Non-coding RNAs Characteristic of Lung Cancer with Regard to Their Clinical Significance

Lung cancer continues to be the leading topic concerning global mortality rate caused by cancer; it needs to be further investigated to reduce these dramatic unfavorable statistic data. Noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs) have been shown to be important cellular regulatory factors and the alteration of their expression levels has become correlated to extensive number of pathologies. Specifically, their expression profiles are correlated with development and progression of lung cancer, generating great interest for further investigation. This review focuses on the complex role of non-coding RNAs, namely miRNAs, piwi-interacting RNAs, small nucleolar RNAs, long non-coding RNAs and circular RNAs in the process of developing novel biomarkers for diagnostic and prognostic factors that can then be utilized for personalized therapies toward this devastating disease. To support the concept of personalized medicine, we will focus on the roles of miRNAs in lung cancer tumorigenesis, their use as diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers and their application for patient therapy.