EDITORIAL article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Cancer Immunity and Immunotherapy
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1680859
This article is part of the Research TopicPost-Transcriptional Modifications in Cancer Immunity and ImmunotherapyView all 7 articles
Editorial: Post-Transcriptional Modifications in Cancer Immunity and Immunotherapy
Provisionally accepted
- 1Fudan University, Shanghai, China
- 2The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, United States
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This article draws attention to a less commonly studied form of RNA-related PTM and argues for its inclusion in future immunotherapy strategies. Huang et al. contribute a mini review that bridges the mechanistic and translational aspects of splicing. They examine how tumor-specific alternative splicing events generate neoantigens, which can be presented by MHC molecules and recognized by T cells. The review highlights computational pipelines for neoantigen prediction, recent advances in splicing-derived epitope identification, and potential applications in personalized cancer vaccines and adoptive T cell therapy. This work underscores the untapped potential of splicing-derived immunopeptidomes in precision oncology. Together, the contributions in this Research Topic illuminate the multifaceted roles of post-transcriptional modifications in shaping cancer immunity. From spliceosomal cofactors like GPATCH3 and TSSC4 to chemical modifiers such as METTL3 and PARylation enzymes, PTMs emerge not only as passive molecular consequences but as active drivers of immune phenotypes and therapeutic vulnerabilities.Looking forward, several challenges and opportunities remain. First, deciphering the spatiotemporal dynamics of PTMs at single-cell and spatial resolution will be key to understanding their role in TME heterogeneity. Second, the development of highthroughput functional assays to validate PTM-mediated immune regulation is urgently needed. Lastly, integrating PTM-targeting strategies with immune checkpoint blockade or neoantigen-based therapies offers promising avenues to overcome immune resistance and personalize treatment.We hope this Research Topic will inspire continued investigation into posttranscriptional modifications as both mechanistic drivers and actionable targets in cancer immunology.
Keywords: post-transcriptional modification, Alternative Splicing, splicing factor, RNA methylation, neoantigen, Tumor Microenvironment, cancer immunity, Immunotherapy
Received: 06 Aug 2025; Accepted: 11 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wei, Zhou, Yue and Zhang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Duanwu Zhang, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
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