All major biological macromolecules (DNA, RNA, proteins and lipids) undergo enzyme-catalysed covalent modifications that impact their structure, function and stability. A variety of covalent modifications of RNA have been identified and demonstrated to affect RNA stability and translation to proteins; these mechanisms of translational control have been termed epitranscriptomics. Emerging data suggest that some epitranscriptomic mechanisms are altered in human cancers as well as other human diseases. In this Review, we examine the current understanding of RNA modifications with a focus on mRNA methylation, highlight their possible roles in specific cancer indications and discuss the emerging potential of RNA-modifying proteins as therapeutic targets.

所有主要的生物大分子（DNA，RNA，蛋白质和脂质）都经过酶催化的共价修饰，从而影响其结构，功能和稳定性。已经鉴定出RNA的多种共价修饰，并证明它们会影响RNA的稳定性和翻译成蛋白质。这些翻译控制机制被称为表转录组学。新兴数据表明，人类癌症以及其他人类疾病中某些转录组机制发生了改变。在这篇综述中，我们研究了目前对RNA修饰的理解，重点是mRNA甲基化，强调了它们在特定癌症适应症中的可能作用，并讨论了RNA修饰蛋白作为治疗靶标的新兴潜力。