Table 1.

Types of ncRNAs known in humans

Category	Name	Quality of supporting data	Specific role in carcinogenesis	Aberration in cancer	Reference
Housekeeping RNAs	Transfer RNAs	High	No	No	10, 11
	Ribosomal RNAs	High	No	No	10, 11
	Small nucleolar RNAs	High	No	No	10, 11
	Small nuclear RNAs	High	No	No	10, 11
Small ncRNAs (200 bp or less in size)	MicroRNAs	High	Yes	Amplification, deletion, methylation, gene expression	12, 13
	Tiny transcription initiation RNAs	High	Not known	Not known	11
	Repeat associated small interfering RNAs	High	Not known	Not known	11
	Promoter-associated short RNAs	High	Not known	Not known	4, 6, 11
	Termini-associated short RNAs	High	Not known	Not known	4, 6, 11
	Antisense termini associated short RNAs	High	Not known	Not known	6, 10
	Transcription start site antisense RNAs	Moderate	Not known	Not known	10
	Retrotransposon-derived RNAs	High	Not known	Not known	15
	3’UTR-derived RNAs	Moderate	Not known	Not known	10
	Splice-site RNAs	Poor	Not known	Not known	11
Long ncRNA (over 200 bp in size)	Long or large intergenic ncRNAs	High	Yes	Gene expression, translocation	7-9, 25, 101
	Transcribed ultraconserved regions	High	Yes	Gene expression	18, 19
	Pseudogenes	High	Yes	Gene expression, deletion	15, 81
	Enhancer RNAs	High	Yes	Not known	17, 29
	Repeat-associated ncRNAs	High	Not known	Not known	15
	Long intronic ncRNAs	Moderate	Not known	Not known	10, 11
	Antisense RNAs	High	Yes	Gene expression	14
	Promoter-associated long RNAs	Moderate	Not known	Not known	4
	Long stress-induced non-coding transcripts	Moderate	Yes	Gene expression	10, 11