Vital roles of m5C RNA modification in cancer and immune cell biology

Xinyu Gu; Xiao Ma; Chao Chen; Jun Guan; Jing Wang; Shanshan Wu; Haihong Zhu

doi:10.3389/fimmu.2023.1207371

Vital roles of m⁵C RNA modification in cancer and immune cell biology

Front Immunol. 2023 May 31:14:1207371. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1207371. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Xinyu Gu¹, Xiao Ma², Chao Chen¹, Jun Guan¹, Jing Wang¹, Shanshan Wu¹, Haihong Zhu¹

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Diseases, National Medical Center for Infectious Diseases, Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China.
² Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.

Abstract

RNA modification plays an important role in epigenetics at the posttranscriptional level, and 5-methylcytosine (m⁵C) has attracted increasing attention in recent years due to the improvement in RNA m⁵C site detection methods. By influencing transcription, transportation and translation, m⁵C modification of mRNA, tRNA, rRNA, lncRNA and other RNAs has been proven to affect gene expression and metabolism and is associated with a wide range of diseases, including malignant cancers. RNA m⁵C modifications also substantially impact the tumor microenvironment (TME) by targeting different groups of immune cells, including B cells, T cells, macrophages, granulocytes, NK cells, dendritic cells and mast cells. Alterations in immune cell expression, infiltration and activation are highly linked to tumor malignancy and patient prognosis. This review provides a novel and holistic examination of m⁵C-mediated cancer development by examining the exact mechanisms underlying the oncogenicity of m⁵C RNA modification and summarizing the biological effects of m⁵C RNA modification on tumor cells as well as immune cells. Understanding methylation-related tumorigenesis can provide useful insights for the diagnosis as well as the treatment of cancer.

Keywords: RNA modification; cancer; cancer immunity; immune cells; m5C.

Publication types

Review
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Carcinogenesis
Granulocytes
Humans
Mast Cells
Neoplasms* / genetics
Neoplasms* / therapy
RNA
Tumor Microenvironment / genetics

Substances

RNA

Grants and funding

This study was supported by grants awarded by the National Science and Technology Major Project of China (NO 2018ZX10302206), and the Science and Technology Major Projects of Zhejiang Province (NO 2018C04016).