RNA Splicing in Cancer and Targeted Therapies

Dear Colleagues,

Alternative RNA splicing has been highlighted as a critical driver of tumorigenesis in the past few decades. The advancement of high-throughput sequencing has allowed us to identify genome-wide aberrantly spliced genes in tumor versus normal tissues. It is now well-established that splicing dysregulation can affect genes involved in virtually every one of the hallmarks of cancer. Although therapeutic approaches modulating aberrant splicing in several genetic diseases are reaching the clinic, this is still in progress in cancer therapies. Pharmacological inhibition of alternative splicing using small molecules/drugs, and RNA-based therapeutics, such as splice-switching oligonucleotides, RNA aptamer, RNA interference, decoy oligonucleotides, etc., have shown promising outcomes in cancer cells. However, there are still many challenges to overcome, such as specificity, potency, toxicity, delivery, off-target effects, drug resistance, etc. In this Special Issue, we welcome manuscripts that can extend our understanding of the mechanisms of cancer-associated alternative splicing, identification of aberrant splicing targets, oncogenic somatic mutations in splicing factors, functional characterization, and development of potential therapeutic strategies targeting splicing. We look forward to your contributions.

Dr. Mohammad Rahman
Dr. Ledong Wan
Guest Editors

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