Non-coding RNAs in cancer stem cells

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) have been shown to play a key role in tumor initiation, progression, metastasis, and therapy resistance. Despite their potential clinical importance, the mechanism of CSC regulation is not well understood. Recent evidence suggests that different types of non-coding RNAs (ncRNA), such as microRNA (miRNA) and long non-coding RNA (LncRNA), play a role in regulating CSC growth and replication by modulating transcription factors and downstream signaling pathways activated in CSCs. Here, we review the recent major findings about how they affect stem cell quality acquisition and maintenance in CSCs, as well as metastasis and therapy resistance. Drawing connections between such discoveries could be conducive to the development of novel ncRNA-based therapeutics that can selectively target CSCs and reduce rates of cancer recurrence.