In addition to genomic mutations, RNA editing is another major mechanism creating sequence variations in proteins by introducing nucleotide changes in mRNA sequences. Deregulated RNA editing contributes to different types of human diseases, including cancers. Here we report that peptides generated as a consequence of RNA editing are indeed naturally presented by human leukocyte antigen (HLA) molecules. We provide evidence that effector CD8⁺ T cells specific for edited peptides derived from cyclin I are present in human tumours and attack tumour cells that are presenting these epitopes. We show that subpopulations of cancer patients have increased peptide levels and that levels of edited RNA correlate with peptide copy numbers. These findings demonstrate that RNA editing extends the classes of HLA presented self-antigens and that these antigens can be recognised by the immune system.

中文翻译：

---

RNA编辑衍生的表位起癌症抗原的作用，引发免疫反应。

除基因组突变外，RNA编辑是通过在mRNA序列中引入核苷酸变化而在蛋白质中产生序列变异的另一种主要机制。RNA编辑失调会导致多种类型的人类疾病，包括癌症。在这里我们报告说，RNA编辑产生的肽确实是由人类白细胞抗原（HLA）分子自然呈现的。我们提供证据表明效应子CD8 ⁺特异于细胞周期蛋白I衍生​​肽的T细胞存在于人类肿瘤中，并攻击呈递这些表位的肿瘤细胞。我们显示癌症患者的亚群具有增加的肽水平，并且编辑的RNA的水平与肽拷贝数相关。这些发现表明RNA编辑扩展了HLA呈递的自身抗原的种类，并且这些抗原可以被免疫系统识别。