A-to-I RNA editing and cancer: from pathology to basic science

In eukaryotes mRNA transcripts are extensively processed by different post-transcriptional events such as alternative splicing and RNA editing in order to generate many different mRNAs from the same gene, increasing the transcriptome and then the proteome. The most frequent RNA editing mechanism in mammals involves the conversion of specific adenosines into inosines by the ADAR family of enzymes. This editing event can change both the sequence and the secondary structure of RNA molecules, with important consequences on both the final proteins and regulatory RNAs. Alteration in RNA editing has been connected to numerous human pathologies and recent studies have demonstrated its importance in tumor progression.