N 6 -Methyladenosine in Cancer Immunotherapy: An Undervalued Therapeutic Target

• Published in: Frontiers in immunology Vol. 12; p. 697026
• Main Authors: Quan, Chao, Belaydi, Othmane, Hu, Jiao, Li, Huihuang, Yu, Anze, Liu, Peihua, Yi, Zhenglin, Qiu, Dongxu, Ren, Wenbiao, Ma, Hongzhi, Gong, Guanghui, Ou, Zhenyu, Chen, Minfeng, Sun, Yin, Chen, Jinbo, Zu, Xiongbing
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland 30.08.2021
• Subjects: Adenosine - analogs & derivatives; Adenosine - genetics; Adenosine - immunology; Adenosine - metabolism; Animals; Antineoplastic Agents - therapeutic use; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; Humans; Immunotherapy; Molecular Targeted Therapy; Neoplasms - drug therapy; Neoplasms - genetics; Neoplasms - immunology; Neoplasms - metabolism; RNA, Neoplasm - genetics; RNA, Neoplasm - immunology; RNA, Neoplasm - metabolism; Tumor Microenvironment - immunology; m6A; N6-methyladenosine; tumor microenvironment; immune response; immunotherapy
• ISSN: 1664-3224
• DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2021.697026

N -methylation of adenosine (m A), a post-transcriptional regulatory mechanism, is the most abundant nucleotide modification in almost all types of RNAs. The biological function of m A in regulating the expression of oncogenes or tumor suppressor genes has been widely investigated in various cancers. However, recent studies have addressed a new role of m A modification in the anti-tumor immune response. By modulating the fate of targeted RNA, m A affects tumor-associated immune cell activation and infiltration in the tumor microenvironment (TME). In addition, m A-targeting is found to affect the efficacy of classical immunotherapy, which makes m A a potential target for immunotherapy. Although m A modification together with its regulators may play the exact opposite role in different tumor types, targeting m A regulators has been shown to have wide implications in several cancers. In this review, we discussed the link between m A modification and tumor with an emphasis on the importance of m A in anti-tumor immune response and immunotherapy.