Cancer arises from alterations in several metabolic processes affecting proliferation, growth, replication and death of cells. A fundamental challenge in the study of cancer biology is to uncover molecular mechanisms that lead to malignant cellular transformation. Recent genomic analyses revealed that many molecular alterations observed in cancers come from modifications in the splicing process, including mutations in pre-mRNA regulatory sequences, mutations in spliceosome components, and altered ratio of specific splicing regulators. While alterations in splice site preferences might generate alternative isoforms enabling different biological functions, these might also be responsible for nonfunctional isoforms that can eventually cause dysregulation in cellular processes. Molecular characteristics of regulatory sequences and proteins might also be important prognostic tools revealing a cancer-specific splicing pattern and linking splicing control to cancer development. The connection between cancer biology and splicing regulation is of primary importance to understand the mechanisms leading to disease and also to improve development of therapeutic approaches. Splicing modulation is being explored in new anti-cancer therapies and further investigation of targeted splicing factors is critical for the success of these strategies. This article is categorized under: RNA Processing > Splicing Mechanisms RNA-Based Catalysis > RNA Catalysis in Splicing and Translation RNA Processing > Splicing Regulation/Alternative Splicing RNA in Disease and Development > RNA in Disease.

中文翻译：

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剪接与癌症：挑战与机遇。

癌症来自影响细胞增殖，生长，复制和死亡的几种代谢过程的改变。癌症生物学研究中的一项基本挑战是发现导致恶性细胞转化的分子机制。最近的基因组分析表明，在癌症中观察到的许多分子变化均来自剪接过程中的修饰，包括前mRNA调控序列的突变，剪接体成分的突变以及特定剪接调节剂的比例发生了变化。虽然剪接位点偏好的改变可能会产生可实现不同生物学功能的替代同工型，但它们也可能与最终导致细胞过程失调的非功能同工型有关。调控序列和蛋白质的分子特征可能也是揭示癌症特异性剪接模式并将剪接控制与癌症发展联系起来的重要预后工具。癌症生物学与剪接调控之间的联系对于理解导致疾病的机制以及改善治疗方法的发展至关重要。在新的抗癌治疗中正在研究剪接调节，并且靶向剪接因子的进一步研究对于这些策略的成功至关重要。本文的分类如下：RNA加工>剪接机理基于RNA的催化>剪接和翻译中的RNA催化RNA加工>疾病和发育中的剪接调控/替代剪接RNA>疾病中的RNA。