MINI REVIEW article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Cancer Immunity and Immunotherapy
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1702436
This article is part of the Research TopicEpitranscriptomic Regulation of Anti-Tumor ImmunityView all articles
Roles and mechanisms of NSUN2-mediated RNA m5C modification in cancer progression and immune modulation
Provisionally accepted
- 1Suining Central Hospital, Suining, China
- 2City of Hope, Duarte, United States
- 3Department of Cancer Genetics and Epigenetics, Beckman Research Institute, City of Hope, Duarte, United States
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Abstract RNA epigenetic modifications critically regulate gene expression, with 5-methylcytosine (m5C) emerging as an important mark in cancer biology. NSUN2, a key m5C methyltransferase, modifies diverse RNA species, thereby influencing RNA stability, processing, export, and translation. Accumulating evidence indicates that NSUN2 promotes tumorigenesis by enhancing cell proliferation, supporting drug resistance, driving epithelial–mesenchymal transition, and reprogramming metabolic pathways. Clinically, its dysregulated expression is associated with poor prognosis and potential as a biomarker or therapeutic target. Beyond intrinsic tumor functions, NSUN2 also shapes the tumor immune microenvironment by regulating immune checkpoint molecules, cytokine networks, and immune cell activities, ultimately contributing to immune evasion and influencing immunotherapy efficacy. This review summarizes current insights into the roles and mechanisms of NSUN2 in cancer progression and immune modulation, and discusses challenges and future opportunities for therapeutic exploration.
Keywords: NSun2, 5-methylcytosine (m5C), RNA Epigenetic Modification, Cancer Progression, Tumor immune regulation, Tumor Microenvironment, Immune Evasion
Received: 09 Sep 2025; Accepted: 20 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Li, Yuan, Wang and Jiang. 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: Xiulin Jiang, xiujiang@coh.org
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