Perspective article in Nature Reviews Cancer by Charlotte Rolny, Margarita Bartish and Ola Larsson
Associate Professor Charlotte Rolny, Associate Professor Ola Larsson and PhD Margarita Bartish has published a Perspective article in Nature Reviews Cancer. Perspective articles provide a forum for opinionated discussions of a field or topic, as well as describing historical foundations and influences, emerging research trends and techniques, and ethical, legal and societal issues.
A team of scientists from the Department of Oncology-Pathology, led by Charlotte Rolny and Ola Larsson, with collaborators from McGill University, Canada, have previously reported the significant contribution of mRNA translation in controlling the phenotype of tumor-associated macrophages (1). They now expand their view of the importance of mRNA translation in the tumor microenvironment in a Perspective article in Nature Reviews Cancer (2). This Perspective piece reviews published literature covering examples of mRNA translation in tumor-supporting cells of the tumor microenvironment and provides the authors’ point of view placing these examples in the context of the future directions of the field.
Cancer cells adapt to their external environment, in part, through modulating the translation of mRNAs encoding pro-survival and pro-metastatic proteins. This has stimulated pharmacological interest in developing inhibitors of the translation machinery, many of which are currently in clinical trials. However, we now appreciate that the tumor microenvironment (TME), which includes non-transformed supporting immune cells, endothelial cells, and fibroblasts, plays an important role in promoting tumor growth and invasion. Yet, the importance of mRNA translation in modulating the function of these non-cancer components of the TME – and the consequences of its modulation through the use of mRNA translation inhibitors – is still poorly understood. This work will be of interest to scientists looking for an introduction to mRNA translation in cancer and the clinical potential of this research area.
1. MNK2 governs the macrophage antiinflammatory phenotype.
Bartish M, Tong D, Pan Y, Wallerius M, Liu H, Ristau J, de Souza Ferreira S, Wallmann T, van Hoef V, Masvidal L, Kerzel T, Joly AL, Goncalves C, Preston SEJ, Ebrahimian T, Seitz C, Bergh J, Pietras K, Lehoux S, Naldini L, Andersson J, Squadrito ML, Del Rincón SV, Larsson O, Rolny C
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2020 Nov;117(44):27556-27565
2. The role of eIF4F-driven mRNA translation in regulating the tumour microenvironment.
Bartish M, Abraham MJ, Gonçalves C, Larsson O, Rolny C, Del Rincón SV
Nat Rev Cancer 2023 May;():