Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are a novel class of regulatory RNA molecules and they are involved in many biological processes and disease developments. Several unique features of lncRNAs have been identified, such as tissue-and/or cell-specific expression pattern, which suggest that they could be potential candidates for therapeutic and diagnostic applications. More recently, the scope of lncRNA studies has been extended to endothelial biology research. Many of lncRNAs were found to be critically involved in the regulation of endothelial function and its associated disease progression. An improved understanding of endothelial biology can thus facilitate the discovery of novel biomarkers and therapeutic targets for endothelial dysfunction-associated diseases, such as abnormal angiogenesis, hypertension, diabetes, and atherosclerosis. Nevertheless, the underlying mechanism of lncRNA remains undefined in previous published studies. Therefore, in this review, we aimed to discuss the current methodologies for discovering and investigating the functions of lncRNAs and, in particular, to address the functions of selected lncRNAs in endothelial dysfunction-associated diseases.The disruptions of the auto-regulatory processes in endothelium, including decreased production and bioavailability of NO, impaired endothelial dependent-NO-mediated vascular relaxation, upregulated inflammatory genes expression level, dysregulated hemodynamic, adhesion molecules up-expression, excessive ROS production, and enhanced vascular endothelium permeability [3][4][5][6][7][8]. They are conclusively referred as "endothelial dysfunction (ED)". Subsequently, the dysfunction leads to the development and progression of different forms of vascular diseases [6]. Numerous studies have discovered significant correlations between ED and vascular-mediated diseases, such as angiogenesis, atherosclerosis, hypertension, diabetes, insulin resistance, obesity, etc. [6]. However, the underlying pathophysiology of ED and the correlations between functional roles of lncRNAs and vascular-mediated diseases remain unclear. Therefore, we aim to provide a brief playbook for the discovery and characterization of lncRNAs in ED-associated diseases and, in particular, to provide a concise overview of current knowledge on lncRNAs in ED-associated diseases. It is believed that with a better understanding the correlations of lncRNAs and ED-associated diseases, researches can make a positive impact on the development of novel biomarkers and therapeutic targets in ED-associated disease treatments.
lncRNAs in the Regulation of Gene ExpressionAdvanced genome-and transcriptome-wide analyses discovered that <2% of human genome contains protein coding transcripts, while >75% of which were transcribed into noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs) and have no protein coding potentiality [9,10]. The ncRNAs can be broadly classified into two groups based upon their sizes: the short noncoding RNAs which are less than 200 nucleotides (nt) in length, such as small interfering RNAs (siRNAs), small nu...