Specific chemical modifications of biological molecules are an efficient way of regulating molecular function, and a plethora of downstream signalling pathways are influenced by the modification of DNA and proteins. Many of the enzymes responsible for regulating protein and DNA modifications are targets of current cancer therapies. RNA epitranscriptomics, the study of RNA modifications, is the new frontier of this arena. Despite being known since the 1970s, eukaryotic RNA modifications were mostly identified on transfer RNA and ribosomal RNA until the last decade, when they have been identified and characterized on mRNA and various non-coding RNAs. Increasing evidence suggests that RNA modification pathways are also misregulated in human cancers and may be ideal targets of cancer therapy. In this Review we highlight the RNA epitranscriptomic pathways implicated in cancer, describing their biological functions and their connections to the disease.

生物分子的特定化学修饰是调节分子功能的有效方式，大量下游信号通路受到DNA和蛋白质修饰的影响。许多负责调节蛋白质和 DNA 修饰的酶是当前癌症治疗的目标。 RNA 表观转录组学是对 RNA 修饰的研究，是该领域的新前沿。尽管早在 20 世纪 70 年代就已为人所知，但真核 RNA 修饰主要是在转移 RNA 和核糖体 RNA 上发现的，直到最近十年，它们才在 mRNA 和各种非编码 RNA 上被识别和表征。越来越多的证据表明，RNA 修饰途径在人类癌症中也受到错误调节，可能是癌症治疗的理想靶点。在这篇综述中，我们重点介绍了与癌症有关的 RNA 表观转录组通路，描述了它们的生物学功能及其与疾病的联系。