nc2Cancer:一个研究与癌症相关人类非编码RNA的数据库

程卓,刘珂,严章明,向书念,孙之荣

(清华大学生命科学学院教育部生物信息学重点实验室,北京 100084)



摘要:

伴随着高通量测序技术的飞速发展,许多新型的非编码RNA陆续被发现,比如长链非编码RNA(lncRNA)和环状RNA(Circular RNA)。先前的研究已经表明这些非编码RNA在基因表达调控过程中起着很重要的作用,并且与癌症的发生有着很密切的联系。但是,由于研究者们仍然对它们行使何种功能知之甚少,鉴定这些非编码RNA是否与人类癌症存在密切的相互关系仍然是一个巨大的挑战。为了促进这一领域的研究,这篇文章的作者分析了大规模的RNA相互作用数据,然后建立了数据库nc2Cancer (http://www.bioinfo.tsinghua.edu.cn/nc2Cancer/index.php)。这个数据库的目标便是提供非编码RNA与癌症之间的全面关系。现在,该nc2Cancer数据库包括了三种类型的非编码RNA分子:长链非编码RNA,环状RNA以及由假基因转录而成的RNA。这项研究将有助于研究者更好地去理解非编码RNA的功能以及它们在人类癌症发生过程中所起到的作用。

关键词:  非编码RNA  癌症  MicroRNA  RNA相互作用网络

DOI：10.3969/j.issn.1672-5565.2015.02.01

分类号:TP392;Q522

基金项目:国家 973 计划 (No. 2012CB925203) ,国家自然科学基金(No.31171274)。



nc2Cancer: a database for cancer-associated human ncRNAs

CHENG Zhuo, LIU Ke, YAN Zhangming, XIANG Shunian, SUN Zhirong

(MOE Key Laboratory of Bioinformatics, School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China)

Abstract:

With the rapid development of high-throughput sequencing technology, many new types of non-coding RNAs (such as lncRNAs and circular RNAs) have been identified. Previous studies have shown that these non-coding RNAs play critical roles in gene regulation and have strong associations with cancers. However, since we know little on how the ncRNAs excute their functions, it remains a challenge for us to fully identify the associations between ncRNAs and human cancer. To facilitate the study of this field, we analyzed large-scale RNA-RNA interaction data and constructed a database named nc2Cancer(http://www.bioinfo.tsinghua.edu.cn/nc2Cancer/index.php), a web resource which aims to provide comprehensive associations between ncRNAs and cancer. Currently, nc2Cancer covers three types of non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs, circular RNAs and RNAs transcribed from pseudogenes). This study will greatly expand the understanding of ncRNA functions and their possible roles in cancer development.

Key words:  ncRNA  Cancer  microRNA  RNA-RNA network