Multiple cancer types demonstrate abnormal expression of repetitive RNA sequences as a form of epigenetic instability. There is growing interest in understanding the role of repetitive RNAs in cancer pathogenesis and immunogenicity and in their potential role as diagnostic or therapeutic biomarkers. In this issue of the JCI, Porter and colleagues report on satellite RNA in a subset of ovarian cancers. The authors found that high expression of human satellite (HSAT) repeats — but not other families of repeats — was associated with an immunosuppressive phenotype in ovarian cancer cell lines and tumor samples. Further induction of HSAT RNA levels in vitro, surprisingly, leads to innate immune activation, suggesting a potential therapeutic strategy. This work highlights the expanding role of repetitive RNAs in tumor biology and the need to better define specific classes of repetitive elements expressed in cancer — as well as their role in tumorigenesis, tumor immunity, and the host response to cancer.

中文翻译：

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打破卫星沉默：卵巢癌中的人类卫星 II RNA 表达

多种癌症类型表明重复 RNA 序列的异常表达是表观遗传不稳定性的一种形式。人们越来越有兴趣了解重复 RNA 在癌症发病机制和免疫原性中的作用以及它们作为诊断或治疗生物标志物的潜在作用。在本期JCI, Porter 及其同事报告了卵巢癌子集中的卫星 RNA。作者发现，人类卫星 (HSAT) 重复序列的高表达——而不是其他重复序列家族——与卵巢癌细胞系和肿瘤样本中的免疫抑制表型相关。令人惊讶的是，在体外进一步诱导 HSAT RNA 水平会导致先天免疫激活，这表明了一种潜在的治疗策略。这项工作强调了重复 RNA 在肿瘤生物学中不断扩大的作用，以及需要更好地定义在癌症中表达的特定类别的重复元素——以及它们在肿瘤发生、肿瘤免疫和宿主对癌症的反应中的作用。