Napoli Sara, Munz Nicolas, Guidetti Francesca, Bertoni Francesco
Institute of Oncology Research, Faculty of Biomedical Sciences, USI, 6500 Bellinzona, Switzerland.
Oncology Institute of Southern Switzerland, Ente Ospedaliero Cantonale, 6500 Bellinzona, Switzerland.
Cancers (Basel). 2022 Apr 14;14(8):1978. doi: 10.3390/cancers14081978.
Enhancer RNAs (eRNAs) are non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) transcribed in enhancer regions. They play an important role in transcriptional regulation, mainly during cellular differentiation. eRNAs are tightly tissue- and cell-type specific and are induced by specific stimuli, activating promoters of target genes in turn. eRNAs usually have a very short half-life but in some cases, once activated, they can be stably expressed and acquire additional functions. Due to their critical role, eRNAs are often dysregulated in cancer and growing number of interactions with chromatin modifiers, transcription factors, and splicing machinery have been described. Enhancer activation and eRNA transcription have particular relevance also in inflammatory response, placing the eRNAs at the interplay between cancer and immune cells. Here, we summarize all the possible molecular mechanisms recently reported in association with eRNAs activity.
增强子RNA（eRNA）是在增强子区域转录的非编码RNA（ncRNA）。它们在转录调控中发挥重要作用，主要发生在细胞分化过程中。eRNA具有严格的组织和细胞类型特异性，并由特定刺激诱导产生，进而激活靶基因的启动子。eRNA通常半衰期很短，但在某些情况下，一旦被激活，它们可以稳定表达并获得额外功能。由于其关键作用，eRNA在癌症中常常失调，并且已经报道了其与染色质修饰因子、转录因子和剪接机制之间越来越多的相互作用。增强子激活和eRNA转录在炎症反应中也具有特殊意义，这使得eRNA处于癌症和免疫细胞之间的相互作用中。在此，我们总结了最近报道的与eRNA活性相关的所有可能分子机制。
