Glioblastoma (GBM) is amongst the most frequently identified malignant brain tumors, it has a high mortality rate and a poor prognosis. The overall survival rate remains poor despite the multimodal therapies including acute resection, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, highlighting the urgent need for more effective targeted therapy.

It is strongly implied that deregulated expression of noncoding RNAs in GBM is linked to cancer development, recurrence and proliferation. Non-coding RNAs are RNA species that do not encode proteins, suggested to form complex regulatory networks linked to a variety of biological processes. Disruption of the main components of these networks causes an interruption in cell function, leading to various human diseases.

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been shown to be abnormally present in a number of cancers, and their expression has been related to tumor pathology, so they could be useful diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers. Furthermore, lncRNAs are implicated in carcinogenesis as oncogenes or as tumor suppressors.

The aim of this thesis research is to explore lncRNA deregulations in glioblastoma, by analysing long noncoding RNA expression in healthy and cancerous samples of brain tissues.