非编码 RNA (ncRNA) 就结构和序列长度而言是异质组，由不编码蛋白质的 RNA 分子组成。这些 ncRNA 在基因表达调节中发挥着核心作用，实际上参与了每个分析过程，确保细胞稳态。尽管多年来，许多研究都集中在核起源非编码转录本的表征上，但改进的生物信息学工具和下一代测序 (NGS) 平台已经允许鉴定从线粒体基因组 (mt- ncRNA），包括长链非编码RNA（lncRNA）、环状RNA（circRNA）和微小RNA（miR）。 Mt-ncRNA 已在多种细胞过程中得到描述，例如线粒体蛋白质组稳态和逆行信号传导；然而，大多数 mt-ncRNA 的功能仍然未知。本综述重点关注人类 mt-ncRNA 的一个亚组，其功能障碍与细胞周期调节失败相关，导致细胞生长、细胞增殖和凋亡缺陷，以及肿瘤标志物的发展，例如细胞迁移和转移形成，从而促进癌发生和肿瘤发展。在这里，我们概述了 mt-ncRNA/癌症关系，这有助于肿瘤学领域新生物医学应用的未来发展。

Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) are a heterogeneous group, in terms of structure and sequence length, consisting of RNA molecules that do not code for proteins. These ncRNAs have a central role in the regulation of gene expression and are virtually involved in every process analyzed, ensuring cellular homeostasis. Although, over the years, much research has focused on the characterization of non-coding transcripts of nuclear origin, improved bioinformatic tools and next-generation sequencing (NGS) platforms have allowed the identification of hundreds of ncRNAs transcribed from the mitochondrial genome (mt-ncRNA), including long non-coding RNA (lncRNA), circular RNA (circRNA), and microRNA (miR). Mt-ncRNAs have been described in diverse cellular processes such as mitochondrial proteome homeostasis and retrograde signaling; however, the function of the majority of mt-ncRNAs remains unknown. This review focuses on a subgroup of human mt-ncRNAs whose dysfunction is associated with both failures in cell cycle regulation, leading to defects in cell growth, cell proliferation, and apoptosis, and the development of tumor hallmarks, such as cell migration and metastasis formation, thus contributing to carcinogenesis and tumor development. Here we provide an overview of the mt-ncRNAs/cancer relationship that could help the future development of new biomedical applications in the field of oncology.