Abstract: Long non-coding RNAs regulate gene expression at the levels of epigenetic， transcriptional and posttranscriptional processing， playing an important role in individual development， tumorigenesis and progression. Recently， overexpression of long non-coding RNA HOTAIR（lnc-HOTAIR）has been found in various human cancers and accumulating evidences have showed the significant relationship between lncHOTAIR and tumorigenesis， development， metastasis and prognosis. In this review， we summarize the latest progresses， both domestic and overseas， on the research of lncHOTAIR in various human carcinomas.