Breast and
prostate cancers are the most prevalent
cancers in females and males, respectively. These
cancers exhibit
sex hormone dependence and thus, hormonal
therapies are used to treat these
cancers. However, acquired resistance to
hormone therapies is a major clinical problem. In addition, certain portions of these
cancers initially exhibit
hormone-independence due to the absence of
sex hormone receptors. Therefore, precise and profound understanding of the
cancer pathophysiology is required to develop novel clinical strategies against breast and
prostate cancers. Metabolic reprogramming is currently recognized as one of the hallmarks of
cancer, as exemplified by the alteration of
glucose metabolism, oxidative phosphorylation, and lipid metabolism. Dysregulation of metabolic
enzymes and their regulators such as
kinases,
transcription factors, and other signaling molecules contributes to metabolic alteration in
cancer. Moreover, accumulating lines of evidence reveal that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) regulate
cancer development and progression by modulating metabolism. Understanding the mechanism and function of lncRNAs associated with
cancer-specific metabolic alteration will therefore provide new knowledge for
cancer diagnosis and treatment. This review provides an overview of recent studies regarding the role of lncRNAs in metabolism in breast and
prostate cancers, with a focus on both
sex hormone-dependent and -independent pathways.