Cancer immunotherapy has revolutionized oncology practice. However, current protein and cell therapy tools used in cancer immunotherapy are far from perfect, and there is room for improvement regarding their efficacy and safety. RNA-based structures have diverse functions, ranging from gene expression and gene regulation to pro-inflammatory effects and the ability to specifically bind different molecules. These functions make them versatile tools that may advance cancer vaccines and immunomodulation, surpassing existing approaches. These technologies should not be considered as competitors of current immunotherapies but as partners in synergistic combinations and as a clear opportunity to reach more efficient and personalized results. RNA and RNA derivatives can be exploited therapeutically as a platform to encode protein sequences, provide innate pro-inflammatory signals to the immune system (such as those denoting viral infection), control the expression of other RNAs (including key immunosuppressive factors) post-transcriptionally and conform structural scaffoldings binding proteins that control immune cells by modifying their function. Nascent RNA immunotherapeutics include RNA vaccines encoding cancer neoantigens, mRNAs encoding immunomodulatory factors, viral RNA analogues, interference RNAs and protein-binding RNA aptamers. These approaches are already in early clinical development with promising safety and efficacy results.

癌症免疫疗法彻底改变了肿瘤学实践。但是，目前用于癌症免疫治疗的蛋白质和细胞治疗工具远非完美，其功效和安全性还有改进的余地。基于RNA的结构具有多种功能，范围从基因表达和基因调控到促炎作用以及特异性结合不同分子的能力。这些功能使它们成为通用工具，可以超越现有方法来推进癌症疫苗和免疫调节。这些技术不应被视为当前免疫疗法的竞争者，而应被视为协同组合的合作伙伴，并且是获得更有效和个性化结果的明显机会。RNA和RNA衍生物可以治疗性地用作编码蛋白质序列的平台，向免疫系统提供先天性促炎信号（例如表示病毒感染的信号），转录后控制其他RNA（包括关键的免疫抑制因子）的表达，并通过改变免疫功能来控制免疫细胞的结构支架结合蛋白。新生的RNA免疫疗法包括编码癌症新抗原的RNA疫苗，编码免疫调节因子的mRNA，病毒RNA类似物，干扰RNA和蛋白质结合RNA适体。这些方法已经在早期临床开发中，并且具有令人鼓舞的安全性和有效性结果。转录后控制其他RNA（包括关键的免疫抑制因子）的表达，并通过改变免疫功能来控制免疫细胞的结构支架结合蛋白。新生的RNA免疫疗法包括编码癌症新抗原的RNA疫苗，编码免疫调节因子的mRNA，病毒RNA类似物，干扰RNA和蛋白质结合RNA适体。这些方法已经在早期临床开发中，并且具有令人鼓舞的安全性和有效性结果。转录后控制其他RNA（包括关键的免疫抑制因子）的表达，并通过改变免疫功能来控制免疫细胞的结构支架结合蛋白。新生的RNA免疫疗法包括编码癌症新抗原的RNA疫苗，编码免疫调节因子的mRNA，病毒RNA类似物，干扰RNA和蛋白质结合RNA适体。这些方法已经在早期临床开发中，并且具有令人鼓舞的安全性和有效性结果。