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Genomic Landscape of Cancer Metastasis

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Next Generation Sequencing in Cancer Research

Abstract

Cancer metastasis is the most critical determinant of overall survival in cancer patients. With the significant advancement in next-generation sequencing technologies, our understanding of mechanism of cancer metastasis has been considerably changed especially after the discovery of noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs). The ncRNAs play critical roles in a variety of cellular processes, including development, differentiation, and tumorigenesis. Remarkably, discovery of a class of ncRNAs named as miRNAs led to a paradigm change in our understanding of gene regulation and function. Moreover, long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs), another type of ncRNAs, have recently depicted their role as drivers of tumorigenesis by regulating tumor suppressive and oncogenic pathways. In this chapter, we describe metastasis and introduce ncRNAs with major focus on lncRNAs and outline a detailed description of few cancer metastasis-associated lncRNAs (MALAT-1, HOTAIR, BC200, and SRA RNA). Overall, a complete understanding of the genomic landscape of metastasis will generate new opportunities in early detection and therapeutic intervention.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge limitations in citing important contributions of many other scientists due to space constraints. We thank Franz Zemp for providing critical reviews and suggestions for this manuscript. The research for this manuscript was supported by the Canadian Cancer Society Research Institute (CCSRI).

Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest: No potential conflicts of interest were disclosed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, McCaig Institute for Bone and Joint Health, University of Calgary, 3280 Hospital Drive NW, Calgary, AB, Canada, T2N 4Z6

    Arvind K. Singla Ph.D.

  2. Translational Research Laboratories, Department of Oncology, Tom Baker Cancer Centre, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada

    Chandini Thirukkumaran

  3. Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada

    Rajiv Dixit & Wei Wu

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  1. Arvind K. Singla Ph.D.
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  2. Chandini Thirukkumaran
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  4. Wei Wu
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Correspondence to Arvind K. Singla Ph.D. .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

    Wei Wu

  2. The Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Gene, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom

    Hani Choudhry

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Singla, A.K., Thirukkumaran, C., Dixit, R., Wu, W. (2013). Genomic Landscape of Cancer Metastasis. In: Wu, W., Choudhry, H. (eds) Next Generation Sequencing in Cancer Research. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7645-0_4

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