Mechanism research of non-coding RNA in immune checkpoint inhibitors therapy

Abstract

Immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) therapies for tumors of different systems have attained significant achievements and have changed the current situation of tumor treatment due to their therapeutic characteristics of high specificity and low side effects. The immune checkpoint Programmed death 1/Programmed cell death-Ligand 1 (PD-1/PD-L1) axis exerts a vital role in the immune escape of tumor cells. As a result, it has become a key target for tumor immunotherapy. Therefore, to perfect research into potential regulatory factors for the PD-1/PD-L1 axis, in order to understand and illustrate tumor ICI therapy mechanisms, is a significant goal. Moreover, ncRNA has been verified to regulate the PD-1/PD-L1 axis in the tumor immune microenvironment to regulate tumor genesis and development. ncRNAs can improve or decrease the efficacy of ICI therapy by modulating PD-L1 expression. This review aimed to investigate the mechanisms of action of ncRNA in regulating the PD-1/PD-L1 axis in ICI therapy, to provide more efficient immunotherapy for tumors of different systems.

Keywords: ICIs; PD‐1; PD‐1/PD‐L1 axis; immune therapy; ncRNAs.

FIGURE 1

Connections between ncRNAs and immune checkpoint molecules PD‐1, PD‐L1and CTLA‐4 in ICI therapy.

FIGURE 2

ncRNAs regulate the expression level of PD‐1 through the following four mechanisms: (A) Transcriptional regulation of PD‐1/PD‐L1 expression; (B) miRNA sponge; (C) RNA‐binding protein; and (D) encoding peptide or protein.