Cancer in the Age of Long Noncoding RNA Discovery

By James Flynn

Cancer remains one of the leading causes of death in the developed world. Tremendous advances in the diagnosis and treatment of malignant neoplasms have reduced the mortality rate. Statistics from the National Cancer Institute (NCI; cancer.gov/about-cancer/understanding/statistics) indicate that the overall cancer death rate fell by 13% from 2004 to 2013. Despite these advances in treatments and earlier detection, cancer still remains a major challenge in the healthcare field.