Regulation of PTEN expression by noncoding RNAs

Phosphatase and tensin homologue (PTEN) triggers a battery of intracellular signaling pathways, especially PI3K/Akt, playing important roles in the pathogenesis of multiple diseases, such as cancer, neurodevelopmental disorders, cardiovascular dysfunction and so on. Therefore PTEN might be a biomarker for various diseases, and targeting the abnormal expression level of PTEN is anticipated to offer novel therapeutic avenues. Recently, noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs) have been reported to regulate protein expression, and it is definite that PTEN expression is controlled by ncRNAs epigenetically or posttranscriptionally as well. Herein, we provide a review on current understandings of the regulation of PTEN by ncRNAs, which could contribute to the development of novel approaches to the diseases with abnormal expression of PTEN.