Research progress of long noncoding RNAs in ocular proliferative diseases

Ocular proliferative diseases, such as proliferative vitreous retinopathy (PVR), diabetic retinopathy (DR), choroidal neovascularization, corneal neovascularization and so on, often do harm to the structure and function of the eyes, and responses to treatments of late stage of these diseases are poor.Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) with a length greater than 200 nucleotides can not directly encode a protein but can regulate the expression of protein coding genes through various pathways, and are widely involved in the regulation of body growth, as well as in cell apoptosis, proliferation and differentiation.More and more evidence suggests that lncRNAs are involved in the occurrence and development of a variety of ocular diseases.In the present paper, the concept, classification and mechanism of lncRNAs, and recent advances in the role of lncRNAs in PVR, DR, choroidal neovascularization and corneal neovascularization were reviewed.