REVIEW The functional sites of miRNAs and lncRNAs

Abstract Gastric cancer is one of the most common malig-nant diseases and has one of the highest mortality rates world-wide. Its molecular mechanisms are poorly understood. Recently, the functions of non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) in gastric cancer have attracted wide attention. Although the ex-pression levels of various ncRNAs are different, they may work together in a network and contribute to gastric carcino-genesis by altering the expression of oncogenes or tumor sup-pressor genes. They affect the cell cycle, apoptosis, motility, invasion, and metastasis. Dysregulated microRNAs (miRNAs) and long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), including miR-21, miR-106, H19, and ANRIL, directly or indirectly regulate carcinogenic factors or signaling pathways such as PTEN, CDK, caspase, E-cadherin, Akt, and P53. Greater rec-ognition of the roles of miRNAs and lncRNAs in gastric car-cinogenesis can provide new insight into the mechanisms of tumor development and identify targets for anticancer drug development. Keywords miRNAs. lncRNAs. Gastric carcinogenesis