Abstract: Taurine-upregulated gene 1 (TUG1) is a recently identified oncogenic long non-coding RNA (lncRNA), that is overexpressed in various digestive system tumor tissues and cell lines, including esophageal cancer, gastric cancer, liver cancer, cholangiocarcinoma and biliary tract cancer, pancreatic cancer and colorectal cancer. Studies have shown that TUG1 participates in tumor cells proliferation, apoptosis, migration and invasion, and high expression of TUG1 is associated with clinicopathological features and prognosis of cancer patients, suggesting that lncRNA TUG1 is likely represents a feasible biomarker or therapeutic target in human digestive system cancers.

Key words: Digestive system neoplasms, Oncogenes, Taurine-upregulated gene 1