Open Access

REVIEW

The regulatory role of lncRNA in tumor drug resistance: refracting light through a narrow aperture

HENG ZHANG^1,#, XIAO YANG^2,#, YUJIN GUO³, HAIBO ZHAO⁴, PEI JIANG^5,*, QING-QING YU^3,*

1 Department of Laboratory, Shandong Daizhuang Hospital, Jining, 272051, China
2 Department of Anesthesiology, Affiliated Hospital of Jining Medical University, Jining, 272000, China
3 Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Jining No.1 People’s Hospital, Jining, 272002, China
4 Department of Oncology, Jining No.1 People’s Hospital, Jining, 272002, China
5 Translational Pharmaceutical Laboratory, Jining No.1 People’s Hospital, Jining, 272002, China

* Corresponding Authors: PEI JIANG. Email: ; QING-QING YU. Email:
# These authors contributed equally to this work

(This article belongs to the Special Issue: New Insights in Drug Resistance of Cancer Therapy: A New Wine in an Old Bottle)

Oncology Research 2025, 33(4), 837-849. https://doi.org/10.32604/or.2024.053882

Received 13 May 2024; Accepted 05 August 2024; Issue published 19 March 2025

Abstract

As living conditions improve and diagnostic capabilities advance, the incidence of tumors has increased, with cancer becoming a leading cause of death worldwide. Surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy are the most common treatments. Despite advances in treatment options, chemotherapy remains a routine first-line treatment for most tumors. Due to the continuous and extensive use of chemotherapy drugs, tumor resistance often develops, becoming a significant cause of treatment failure and poor prognosis. Recent research has increasingly focused on how long stranded non-coding RNAs (LncRNAs) influence the development of malignant tumors and drug resistance by regulating gene expression and other biological mechanisms during cell growth. Studies have demonstrated that variations in lncRNA expression levels, influenced by both interpatient variability and intratumoral genetic and epigenetic differences, are closely linked to tumor drug resistance. Therefore, this review advocates using lncRNA as a framework to investigate the regulation of genes associated with drug resistance, proposing lncRNA-targeted therapeutic strategies to potentially increase the efficacy of chemotherapy, improve patient outcomes, and guide future research directions.

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