Non-coding RNAs in human non-infectious diseases

Aberrant expression or function of non-coding RNA (ncRNA) including long ncRNAs (lncRNAs), microRNAs (miRNAs), and circular RNAs plays an important role in autoimmune and inflammatory disorders. There are two classes of ncRNA according to the transcript size: long ncRNAs with a size of more than 200 nucleotides and small ncRNA with smaller sizes, such as microRNA (19–24 nucleotides). Circular ncRNAs are covalently closed circles of single-stranded ncRNA. In this chapter, we review the state of research in different areas of non-infectious diseases that are impacted by non-coding RNAs: diseases of the autoimmune system and cardiac and skeletal muscle. Autoimmune diseases arise when the immune system is not able to clearly distinguish between its own and foreign antigens. Under such circumstances, immune cells make a mistake and attack their own body's cells instead of protecting these own cells. The main sign of an autoimmune disease is inflammation. Diseases of cardiac and skeletal muscle arise in response to processes that effect normal functioning and size of cells that comprise these organs. In this review, the role of lncRNAs, miRNAs, and circular RNAs in these human diseases was summarized and their potential as biomarkers and novel therapeutic targets was described.