Dysregulation and implications of lncRNAs and miRNAs in oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma: In reply with emphasis on the role of ceRNAs.

Increasing evidence indicates that long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) as competing endogenous RNAs (ceRNAs) competitively sequestering microRNAs (miRNAs) participate in biological processes of oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma (TSCC). In this Letter, the ceRNA regulatory networks consisting of lncRNA/miRNA/mRNA axes in TSCC were summarized. Dysregulated profiles containing 33 lncRNAs and 31 miRNAs were identified by cancer-associated phenotypes verification. Almost all the lncRNAs could exert the oncogenic roles to sponge miRNAs and regulate targeting mRNA expression, thereby modulating cell proliferation, cell cycle, apoptosis, invasion, migration, metastasis, epithelial-mesenchymal transition, as well as chemoresistance. Significantly, the implications of functional ceRNAs deactivated in tumor cells contribute to the exploitation of novel diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for TSCC.