antisense non-coding rna in the ink4 locus (anril) in human cancers

Context: anril (antisense non-coding rna in the ink4 locus) is one of the oncogenic long non-coding rnas (lncrnas), which is located at the 9p21.3. it has a regulatory epigenetic function on its neighboring gene cluster p15/cdkn2b-p16/cdkn2a-p14/arf. such regulatory role has led to contribution of anril in the pathogenesis of many human cancers. evidence acquisition: we searched the pubmed, google scholar, embase, and web of science databases till february 2018 with the key words anril or antisense non-coding rna in the ink4 locus and cancer or tumor or malignancy. results: anril over-expression is documented in several cancers. the underlying mechanism for regulatory effect of anril on the expression of its neighboring tumor suppressors has been clarified in some malignancies. moreover, anril over-expression has been associated with cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil (5-fu)-resistance in some cancers. conclusions: anril is regarded as a potential biomarker in diverse cancer types and a therapeutic target in certain malignancies.