ncRNAs in cancer diagnosis and therapy
Integrating multi-omics approaches for therapeutic targeting of ncRNAs in Cancer.
With the development of RNA structure determination assays such as SHAPE and nextPARS, it is possible to map the secondary structure of ncRNAs precisely. In this regard, I’ve recently shown that the characterization of the structure of NORAD, a lncRNA dysregulated in different types of cancers, opens the door to designing novel therapeutic strategies in the fight against cancer. Furthermore, in recent work, we underline the immense potential of structure-altering mutations on the fine-tuning role of lncRNAs associated with colorectal cancer patients experiencing relapse after treatment. Therefore, a new type of RNA therapy can be envisaged based on targeting structural elements, which directly affect the conformation of an ncRNA and indirectly the functional interactions with molecules.
We will combine multi-omics data integration, computational approaches and clinical data applied to RNA-based therapeutics for cancer and also applied to improving CAR T-cell therapies.
