Emerging Role of LncRNAs in Autoimmune Lupus

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are a group of non-coding RNAs that have been considered as one of the largest and diverse RNA families. lncRNAs participate in dysregulation of post-transcriptional process by both RNA and protein interactions. This group of RNAs also plays essential roles in various cellular activities, such as differentiation, proliferation, and apoptosis. Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an inflammatory autoimmune disease, and evidence has suggested that many lncRNAs are involved in SLE pathogenesis, for instance, several lncRNAs were aberrantly expressed in SLE patients. Moreover, since post-transcriptional process by lncRNAs significantly performs in contributing to lupus progression, it is desirable to continue expanding the search for lncRNAs impacting on lupus development by post-transcriptional mechanisms. Highlighting the implication of lncRNAs in regulation of different immune cells through signaling pathways that have participated in SLE is of importance. Therefore, in this review, we summarized recent advances in lncRNAs and SLE. Hopefully, collection of the information will be better to comprehensively understand the relation of SLE and lncRNAs, and will have potential for investigating target for SLE regarding lncRNAs in the future.