The role of RNA modifications in the Ovarian Cancer immune landscape: immune escape, tumor microenvironment, and immunotherapy

About this Research Topic

Background

Ovarian cancer (OC) is a common gynecological malignancy. It is difficult to detect at the early stage, and more than 70% of patients are already advanced when diagnosed, resulting in a five-year survival of only 45% and the highest mortality rate among gynecological tumors. Maximum cytoreductive surgery and combinatorial chemotherapy with cisplatin and paclitaxel chemotherapy are the main treatments of OC, but patients often have recurrence and metastasis due to drug resistance within several years, lacking an effective individualized treatment strategy. In recent years, immunotherapy has attracted significant interest， which is of help in selecting the ideal biomarkers and improving the precision treatment of OC. Response to immunotherapy in different ovarian cancer subtypes is diverse, and the mechanisms involved are still largely unknown.

Epigenetic modification refers to the heritable alteration of gene expression by chemical modification without changing the nucleotide sequence. Among them, the apparent modifications of RNA belong to post-transcriptional modifications and are a promising branch of the field of epigenetics. Over 170 RNA modifications have been identified, which can be widely present in various RNA, including mRNA, ncRNA and tRNA, and play important roles in different diseases by changing the positioning, splicing, structure and stability of RNA. RNA methylation is the most common and most mature RNA modification, including m6A, m5C and m7G, while other modifications such as A-to-I and APA have been reported by more and more researchers.

RNA modification is closely related to the development of OC. Dysregulation of RNA modification can alter the expression of oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes, thereby facilitating or suppressing the proliferation, metastasis and invasion of OC. More importantly, RNA modification also has an impact on immunity of OC, including immune escape, immune microenvironment and immunotherapy, which affects the therapeutic effect and prognosis of patients. Therefore, a deeper understanding of RNA modifications can help us explore the mechanisms of OC and achieve accurate diagnosis and prognosis. Characteristic changes of RNA modification may be used as a marker for predicting immune escape and efficacy of immunotherapy, helping patients personalize their immunotherapy options. Although researchers are exploring the mechanisms of RNA modification in OC, we still need to deepen insights, especially for the immunotherapy of OC, which is important for improving the prognosis of patients with OC.

In this research topic, we aim to bring together researchers from relevant fields to gain insight into the role of RNA epigenetic modification in the development mechanism of OC, and focus on exploring the effects of RNA modification on the immune microenvironment of OC to establish immunotherapy strategies based on RNA modification. We welcome but are not limited to submissions from the following subtopics:

·Mechanisms of RNA modification that regulate the progression of OC

·Mechanism of RNA modification that regulates immunity of OC

·Interaction of RNA modification with the tumor microenvironment of OC

·Role of RNA modification in immune escape of OC

·RNA modification-based biomarkers for predicting immunotherapy effect in OC

·RNA modification-based immunotherapy strategy for OC

Please note: manuscripts consisting solely of bioinformatics or computational analysis of public genomic or transcriptomic databases which are not accompanied by validation (independent cohort or biological validation in vitro or in vivo) are out of scope for this section and will not be accepted as part of this Research Topic.

Keywords: RNA modifications, Ovarian cancer, epigenetics

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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