Cancer is a multifactorial disease that affects millions of individuals worldwide and has a profound impact on public health. The heterogeneity of solid tumors is critical to cancer treatments, given that it causes tumors to be unresponsive to anti-cancer therapies. Additionally, it is crucial to consider the role of the tumor (TME), immune (TIME), and stroma environments, as well as acidosis and hypoxia, which leads to immune repression and extracellular matrix remodeling (ECM). The latter, in turn, facilitates tumor cell invasion, tumor progression, metastasis, and resistance to anti-cancer therapy.
On the other hand, non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs: miRNAs, lncRNAs, circRNAs, and piRNAs) regulate genetic expression by various mechanisms, which impact multiple cellular processes to physiological and pathological levels. Several studies have reported that ncRNAs are key regulators of gene expression of immune cells (innate and adaptive.) In different types of cancer, these ncRNAs regulate transcription and control the function and balance of antitumoral immune cells. ncRNAs could be promising targets for improving immunotherapies. However, not all cancers respond to immunotherapies, and many develop more aggressive phenotypes, leading to poor or no response. This topic proposal aims to compile original research, reviews, and bioinformatics analysis with validated data showing how ncRNAs regulate gene expression in immune cells during tumor development and antitumoral treatments.
The success of immunotherapy is challenging to achieve due to 1) the development of cancer cells with more aggressive phenotypes due to dysregulation of the genome and epigenome and 2) the development of resistance (intrinsic or extrinsic) against this type of therapy. Thus, it is essential to establish changes in the strategies for developing immunotherapies that include the possible participation of ncRNAs as key modulators of the antitumoral response.
This Research Topic aims to compile original research, reviews, and bioinformatics analyses with validated data showing how ncRNAs, including miRNAs, lncRNAs, circRNAs, and piRNAs, regulate the gene expression of immune cells during tumor development and treatment. To understand how tumor cells can evade the immune system, this Research Topic will focus on ncRNA's role as master regulators of the genetic expression of immune cells in response to cancer in a highly dynamic tumor microenvironment. The dysregulated expression of ncRNAs might favor an immunosuppressive profile, resulting in more aggressive phenotypes and resistance to immunotherapies. We invite potential authors to contribute with submissions that explore, but are not limited to, the following themes:
-the role of the tumor microenvironment in regulating ncRNAs in the tumor, immune, and stroma cells. -ncRNAs regulate gene expression of immune and tumor cells. -ncRNAs modulate tumor evasion mechanisms and resistance to immunotherapies. -ncRNAs regulation immunoediting in cancer.
Please note that manuscripts consisting solely of bioinformatics or computational analysis of public genomic or transcriptomic databases which are not accompanied by robust and relevant validation (clinical cohort or biological validation in vitro or in vivo) are out of scope for this Research Topic.
Article types and fees
This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:
Brief Research Report
Case Report
Classification
Clinical Trial
Editorial
FAIR² Data
General Commentary
Hypothesis and Theory
Methods
Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.
Article types
This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:
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.
