Roles and Mechanisms of Non-coding RNAs in Human Health and Disease

Dear Colleagues,

Initially considered as splicing errors or transcripts originating from “junk DNA”, non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) are now recognized as key actors of cellular physiology and pathology. The new millennium brought to light the existence of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) and circular RNAs (circRNAs). The results of the Human Genome Project, which was published in 2001, showed that about 85–90% of our genome is transcribed in RNA, even though only proteins cover about 1.2% of the entire genome. Since this groundbreaking discovery, various articles have reported on lncRNAs and circRNAs, showing that these molecules play a crucial role in cells as epigenetic regulators of almost all biological processes, similar to the already known microRNAs (miRNAs). Several studies have shown that while ncRNAs are fundamental in cell physiology, both at the intracellular and extracellular levels, they are also dysregulated in pathological tissues and body fluids, paving the way for their application in clinical practice as therapeutic targets and diagnostic/prognostic biomarkers.

This Special Issue will describe the current knowledge on ncRNAs (including miRNAs, lncRNAs, and circRNAs) in physiological and pathological processes, including the onset and progression of diseases. We welcome research articles and reviews on altered expression in tissues or body fluids, polymorphisms, or splicing variants of ncRNAs that are associated with specific disorders.

Dr. Marco Ragusa
Dr. Cristina Barbagallo
Guest Editors

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• non-coding RNAs
• microRNAs
• long non-coding RNAs
• circular RNAs
• biomarkers
• polymorphisms
• cancer
• degenerative diseases
• therapy