The role of long non-coding RNAs in the spread of breast cancer

Breast cancer is the primary cause of cancer-related mortality among women. Most deaths from breast cancer are caused by the disease coming back or spreading to other regions of the body. Only around a quarter to a third of women with advanced breast cancer will make it to their fifth year. EMT, invasion, loss of cell-to-cell adhesion, phenotypic change, extravasation, tumor microenvironment, and secondary-site colonization are all steps in the chain of events that constitutes breast cancer metastasis. The distant stromal cell undergoes epigenetic change to become a secondary tumor. The longest non-coding RNAs, or LncRNAs, have estimated base-pair lengths between 200 nt and 100 kb and are one of the most important epigenetic regulators. Important for breast cancer metastasis, lncRNA acts as a sponge for miRNA, degrades or silences particular mRNA, or interferes with enzymes and microprocessor subunits involved in miRNA production. LncRNA also modulates cell signaling pathways and affects the expression of numerous genes known to be involved in the spread of breast cancer. The purpose of this review is to offer a better knowledge of the function of lncRNA in the control of breast cancer metastasis. We also provided a brief overview of some of the most important lncRNAs that control the genes and signaling pathways that drive breast cancer invasion and metastasis.