Open research questions in Cancer-related molecular mechanisms research
129 unresolved questions extracted from the limitations and future-work sections of 335 Cancer-related molecular mechanisms research papers in our library. Each links back to the study that raised it.
What the literature leaves open
Exploring new treatment strategies for DPN, - Investigating the role of Jun and Fos in DPN
Whole transcriptome sequencing and ceRNA regulatory network in diabetic peripheral neuropathy · 2026 · DOILimited understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying DPN. Limited treatment options for DPN with significant side effects. Need for new therapeutic targets for DPN.
Whole transcriptome sequencing and ceRNA regulatory network in diabetic peripheral neuropathy · 2026 · DOIClinical translation of non-coding RNA regulation is still in its infancy. Significant hurdles must be overcome, such as safety testing, dose finding, assessment of long-term effects, and managing interindividual variability. Conventional clinical measures are not adequate for monitoring dynamic, subtle pathophysiological changes.
The silent dialogue between cells: regulatory roles of non-coding RNAs in cardiovascular disease · 2026 · DOISpurious associations due to noise in the data. Poor generalization due to oversimplification of the noise independence hypothesis. Lack of interpretability for noisy association prediction tasks.
Prior-Informed Graph Skeleton Learning for ncRNA–Drug Resistance Association Prediction · 2026 · DOIExisting graph-based methods rely on purely data-driven learning and assume a simplified noise independence hypothesis. These methods overlook the complex dependencies among feature, structural, and label noise in biomedical networks, leading to issues such as spurious associations and poor generalization.
Prior-Informed Graph Skeleton Learning for ncRNA–Drug Resistance Association Prediction · 2026 · DOIFurther studies are needed to investigate the underlying mechanisms of LINC01116 in regulating BMSC apoptosis. The role of LINC01116 in other types of cancer should be explored. The potential of LINC01116 as a therapeutic target for PTC treatment should be investigated.
LINC01116 promotes the progression of papillary thyroid carcinoma by regulating the apoptosis of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells · 2026 · DOIThe specific molecular mechanisms of the pathogenesis and development of PTC are not fully understood, - the role of LINC01116 in PTC progression and its underlying mechanisms remain unclear.
LINC01116 promotes the progression of papillary thyroid carcinoma by regulating the apoptosis of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells · 2026 · DOICurrent treatments for OA only alleviate clinical symptoms and offer limited protection against cartilage damage. The pathogenesis of OA is not fully understood. There is a need for new therapeutic drugs that are low in toxicity and have minimal side effects.
Quercetin Modulates Ferroptosis via the SIRT1/Nrf−2/HO−1 Pathway and Attenuates Cartilage Destruction in an Osteoarthritis Rat Model · 2024 · DOIThe complex mechanisms at the core of neurodegenerative diseases. The limited diagnostics and treatment regimens that exist to combat these diseases. The exact function of many lncRNAs remains obscure.
The lack of understanding of the functions of most lncRNAs. The need for extensive studies to elucidate the roles of lncRNAs in physiology, development, and disease. The complexity of the mechanisms involved in lipid metabolism and cardiovascular disease risk.
Extensive studies are necessary to elucidate the roles of lncRNAs in physiology, development, and disease - The identification of dysregulated lncRNAs may pose promising candidates for therapeutic interventions
The study is based on a dynamic Boolean network model, - The analysis is limited to the published literature, - Experimental verification of the novel circuits is needed
LncRNA PTENP1/miR-21/PTEN Axis Modulates EMT and Drug Resistance in Cancer: Dynamic Boolean Modeling for Cell Fates in DNA Damage Response · 2024 · DOIExperimental verification of the novel circuits, - Investigation of the roles of PTENP1, miR-21, and PTEN in other cancers
LncRNA PTENP1/miR-21/PTEN Axis Modulates EMT and Drug Resistance in Cancer: Dynamic Boolean Modeling for Cell Fates in DNA Damage Response · 2024 · DOITransposable element-derived long intergenic noncoding RNAs (lincRNAs) are increasingly recognized as context-dependent regulators of gene expression; however, the functional consequences of their ectopic activation in somatic cells remain poorly understood.
Waking the sleepers: lincRNA overexpression compromises DHX36 activity and global protein synthesis · 2026 · DOIThe contribution of lncRNA reprogramming during early p53-deficient gliomagenesis remains poorly understood.
p53 knockout drives stage-specific long non-coding RNA reprogramming during human neural differentiation and glioma organoid tumorigenesis. · 2026 · DOIAs H19 silencing could not be achieved in HEL cells, functional validation was limited to a single resistant model.
Long non-coding RNA H19 is overexpressed in azacitidine-resistant K562 cells but does not significantly alter drug sensitivity · 2026 · DOIFurthermore, a novel smoking-related mutational signature, SBS_I, was discovered, awaiting further investigation into the underlying mutational process.
The Genetic Footprint of Tobacco Smoking: Unraveling the Mutational Signatures in Head and Neck Cancer · 2025 · DOIMeckel’s cartilage (MC) is a temporary structure that supports the formation of the mandible, but how MC is involved in the ossification of the mandible is poorly understood.
An atlas of early human mandibular endochondral and osteogenic paracrine signaling regions of Meckel’s cartilage · 2025 · DOIAlthough a fraction of functional peptides concealed within long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) is identified, it remains unclear whether lncRNA-encoded peptides are involved in the malignancy of cervical cancer (CC).
HPV E6/E7‐Induced Acetylation of a Peptide Encoded by a Long Non‐Coding RNA Inhibits Ferroptosis to Promote the Malignancy of Cervical Cancer · 2025 · DOILong non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have emerged as key regulators in muscle biology; however, their precise roles in muscle function and pathology remain to be fully elucidated.
LncRNA‐MEG3 Regulates Muscle Mass and Metabolic Homeostasis by Facilitating SUZ12 Liquid–Liquid Phase Separation · 2025 · DOIRolling circle amplification (RCA) products can noncanonically self-assemble into compact DNA nanoflowers with high loading performance and excellent nuclease resistance, but they are scarcely explored for intracellular analysis due to inefficient integration/release/activation of probes.
Endogenously Activated Multiple DNAzyme-Encoded Nanoflowers for High-Contrast Imaging of Long Noncoding RNA and Cancer Therapy · 2025 · DOIHowever, the molecular mechanisms of lncRNAs regulating the angiogenesis in LUAD have not been fully elucidated.
Long non-coding RNA CAR10 promotes angiogenesis of lung adenocarcinoma by mediating nuclear LDHA to epigenetically regulate VEGFA/C · 2025 · DOIIn non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), while specific A-to-I editing events have been identified, their functional mechanisms and clinical relevance remain poorly understood.
A-to-I edited SNHG3 promotes non-small cell lung cancer metastasis by promoting fatty acid oxidation and resisting ferroptosis · 2025 · DOIIn zebrafish, the development of epibranchial structures has not been described in detail at the genetic and cellular levels compared to the development of the jaw skeleton.
Although the involvement of long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) in diverse biological processes of PCOS has been well documented, the molecular mechanism of lncRNA small nucleolar RNA host gene 12 (SNHG12) in PCOS remains unclear.
SNHG12 downregulation induces follicular dysplasia by modulating the glycolysis of granulosa cell in polycystic ovary syndrome · 2025 · DOI
Most-cited papers in Cancer-related molecular mechanisms research
- Landscape of transcription in human cells · Nature · 2012 · 4,556 citations
- Long non-coding RNA HOTAIR reprograms chromatin state to promote cancer metastasis · Nature · 2010 · 4,430 citations
- RNA velocity of single cells · Nature · 2018 · 4,301 citations
- Chromatin signature reveals over a thousand highly conserved large non-coding RNAs in mammals · Nature · 2009 · 3,552 citations
- UALCAN: An update to the integrated cancer data analysis platform · Neoplasia · 2022 · 2,224 citations
- RNA Maps Reveal New RNA Classes and a Possible Function for Pervasive Transcription · Science · 2007 · 2,163 citations
- Conservation of the sequence and temporal expression of let-7 heterochronic regulatory RNA · Nature · 2000 · 2,018 citations
- Machine learning-based integration develops an immune-derived lncRNA signature for improving outcomes in colorectal cancer · Nature Communications · 2022 · 708 citations
- Small and long non-coding RNAs: Past, present, and future · Cell · 2024 · 439 citations
- Liquid biopsy in lung cancer: significance in diagnostics, prediction, and treatment monitoring · Molecular Cancer · 2022 · 416 citations
Most recent work
- Genetic variation reveals a homeotic long noncoding RNA that modulates human hematopoietic stem cells · Cell · 2026
- An X-linked long non-coding RNA, PTCHD1-AS, and the core features of autism · Nature · 2026
- Hybridization load introduced by Alpine ibex hybrid swarms · bioRxiv · 2026
- Nuclear body assembly by a viral repeat RNA promotes Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus gene expression · bioRxiv · 2026
- Adding layers of information to scRNA-seq data using pre-trained language models · bioRxiv · 2026
- SpaViT: Self-Supervised Prediction of High-Resolution Spatial Transcriptomics with Vision Transformer · Tsinghua Science and Technology · 2026
- Long non-coding RNAs as modulators of endocrine therapy response in hormone receptor-positive breast cancer · Molecular Biology Reports · 2026
- A transformer-based language model reveals developmental constraint and network complexity during zebrafish embryogenesis · bioRxiv · 2026
- Bimodal masked language modeling for bulk RNA-seq and DNA methylation representation learning · bioRxiv · 2026
- A single-cell cell-of-origin audit of the lncRNA RMST: bulk expression under-represents its broad neural expression and over-attributes a liver biomarker · Functional & Integrative Genomics · 2026
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