Shown are examples of metastatic long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) activated by representative mechanisms (from left to right). For each mechanism, the mechanistic model of an example lncRNA is presented (top: upstream regulation of the lncRNA; bottom: regulation of the downstream target and metastatic phenotype). EMT, epithelial–mesenchymal transition; hnRNP, heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein; NF-κB, nuclear factor-κB; miR, microRNA.