Dear Colleagues,

Over the last four decades, the field of molecular biology has expanded at an incredible rate, to the extent that it is a real challenge to keep up with new developments. Specific areas of interest have emerged and grown, namely genomics, epigenetics, cell signalling, cell biology, and RNA biology, to name but a few. What do we mean by RNA biology? It is a complex mixture of topics; the versatile nature of RNA structure, ribozymes, RNA-binding proteins, and a huge assortment of co- and post-transcriptional processes that help to regulate gene expression. In the cell nucleus, we contend with alternative polyadenylation sites, RNA editing, alternative splicing, regulated RNA export, and epigenetic processes in which RNA molecules play a key part; and in the cytoplasm, mRNA localisation, regulated mRNA translation, and mRNA stability. As if that were not enough, we also have to consider a myriad of noncoding RNAs, both long and short. Noncoding RNAs are involved in epigenetic regulation and cis-regulation of pre-mRNA splicing, mRNA translation and decay. All of these processes contribute immensely to the regulation of gene expression in development and disease. Of particular note is that over 94% of human genes are alternatively spliced, and one in six disease-associated mutations perturb pre-mRNA splicing.

Given these layers of complexity, it is not surprising to find that RNA biology can and does go wrong in cancer. There is increasing interest in looking at RNA biomarkers, notably the presence of specific cancer-associated microRNAs in the blood or urine. The expression of splice factors and the alternative splicing of key cancer-associated genes is frequently altered. Therefore, a growing assortment of novel anticancer strategies that target RNA-mediated processes are being developed. These include the manipulation of alternative splicing through oligonucleotides and splice factor kinase inhibitors and the manipulation of mRNA translation and nonsense-mediated decay. The purpose of this Special Issue is to draw attention to the significant new possibilities that RNA biology offers in the fight against cancer.

Dr. Michael Ladomery
Guest Editor

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• RNA structure
• ribozymes
• RNA-binding proteins
• cotranscriptional and posttranscriptional processing
• alternative splicing
• splice factors and splice factor kinases
• mRNA localisation, translation and decay
• short and long noncoding RNAs