ncR2Met (lncR2metasta v2.0): An updated database for experimentally supported ncRNAs during cancer metastatic events

Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) are widely involved in cancer metastatic events (CMEs, e.g., cancer cell invasion, intravasation, extravasation, proliferation), which collaboratively accelerate tumor spread and cause high patient mortality. In early 2020, we developed a manually curated database named 'lncR2metasta' to provide a comprehensive repository for long ncRNA (lncRNA) regulation during CMEs. We updated this database by supplementing other two important ncRNA types, microRNAs (miRNAs) and circular RNAs (circRNAs), for their involvement during CMEs after a thorough manual curation from published studies. ncR2metasta documents 1565 lncRNA-associated, 882 miRNA-associated, and 628 circRNA-associated entries for ncRNA-CME associations during 50 CMEs across 63 human cancer subtypes. ncR2Met has a concise web interface for researchers to easily browse, search and download as well as to submit novel ncRNA-CME associations. We anticipated that it could be a valuable resource, which will significantly improve our understanding of ncRNA functions in metastasis. It is freely available at http://ncr2met.wchoda.com.