REVIEW article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Cancer Immunity and Immunotherapy
This article is part of the Research TopicEpitranscriptomic Regulation of Anti-Tumor ImmunityView all articles
Epitranscriptomic control of cancer immunity and therapy resistance
Provisionally accepted
- Xianghu Laboratory, Hangzhou, China
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Epitranscriptomics, the study of dynamic chemical modifications on RNA mediated by "writers," "erasers," and "readers," has emerged as a pivotal discipline in elucidating the intricate interplay between cancer and immune regulation. These reversible modifications (e.g. m6A, m5C, Ψ) govern RNA metabolism, stability, and translation, thereby exerting spatiotemporal control over immune cell differentiation, activation, and function . Dysregulation of RNA-modifying proteins disrupts immune surveillance, enhances tumor cell survival under stress, and promotes chemoradiotherapy resistance by altering RNA splicing, translation, and stress adaptation pathways. This review summarized the recent progress in the regulatory mechanisms profoundly influencing the tumor microenvironment (TME), modulating immune checkpoints, antigen presentation pathways, and the activity of immune cells. Furthermore, we discussed the therapeutic strategies and challenges in targeting epitranscriptomic regulators and epitranscriptomic editing technologies to enhance anti-tumor immune responses and overcome therapeutic resistance.
Keywords: Epitranscriptomics, RNA modifications, Tumor Microenvironment, Immunotherapy, M6A, m5C, m1A, A-to-I editing
Received: 16 Sep 2025; Accepted: 24 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhao and Guan. 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: Suhua Guan, guansuhua@xhlab.ac.cn
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